Meet The Founder
Hi! My name is GiGi S. Helling, and I am a high school senior from Fort Worth, Texas. When I was younger and living in Chicago, I annually attended Northwestern University's brain awareness events, which I now credit as a primary catalyst for my current love for psychology.
I'm lucky to attend FWCD, a school rife with scholastic opportunities and resources, but the pressure to meet academic expectations often engenders anxiety in me and my peers, which shifts the focus from education to resume-building. I’ve seen smart, motivated classmates resort to completing schoolwork dishonorably, thereby eliminating any possibility of discovering subjects that spark their interest.
Hoping to re-invigorate students’ academic curiosity and love for learning, I spent my first years of high school independently crafting my very own Brain Fair for my school's ~250 elementary students. Now, I'm working on further expanding the Fair to reach students at the nearby Rivertree Academy and Como Community Center.
In this web page you'll find detailed explanations of the Fair's inspiration, structure, current (but ever-evolving) stations, impact, and mission. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message on the "Contact" page.
The Inspiration
"Northwestern University Brain Awareness Outreach (NUBAO) is a public outreach initiative founded in 2010 by Northwestern University's Interdepartmental Neuroscience (NUIN) PhD students dedicated to educating, exciting, and inspiring the Chicago community about the brain. Through collaborations with public schools and science education programs in the Chicago area, NUBAO organizes a number of hands-on lectures, workshops, and open house-style events in an effort to teach a variety of neuroscience topics to students of all ages and their families. The NUBAO volunteer base consists of a diverse group of mostly graduate students, in addition to undergraduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, and research staff from numerous departments and scientific disciplines at Northwestern University. "
-NUBAO website
How it Works
All students are excused from their classes while they attend the Fair, which takes place in FWCD's Square Gym. The space is occupied by ~20 tables, each housing a neuroscience or psychology-based game, activity, or presentation. Students rotate from station to station in class groups, and each demonstration is led by a high school or collegiate volunteer. In 2026, the high school volunteers will all be members of the student-led organization, Brain Buddies, which was founded by Lily Hyde '24 and is now led by GiGi Helling '26, Catherine Hart '26, and William Marlow '26. By the end of their visit, all students will have explored all stations. Some games are competition-based, allowing participants to earn prizes (candy, brain squish toy, or brain sticker), while others are volunteer-led demonstrations.
