NOTE: his class will get together periodically over the summer to really flesh out the intracies of building the computer, including the purchasing of parts. 

There's no greater satisfication and consternation than building your own computer. We are going to take the summer and do it right! If you are here in Nashville for at least six total weeks of June and July, then we'll get together over a few evenings and weekends to get the job done. 

This class will teach you the basics of designing and building terrain for a variety of board and wargames. We'll use a host of tools from simple handtools to highly sophisticated, large laser cutting devices. The design process is vital because each piece must be designed in a larger plan and work seemlessly therein. It's a fantastic hobby, and it's great to get started early in life on this one.  

Photo: MBA's National Championship Mock Trial Team with Nikil Misra (graduating senior & newly named Jefferson Scholar at UVA) laying down the law!  

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Your registration in this class is finalized when the head coach of the MBA Mock Trial Team, Mr. Wade Cowan [ wadebcowan@aol.com ], responds back to you. He's getting notification of your enrollment. Also, this course is only open to boys enrolled at MBA as it will engage strategic decisions for future competitions. 

Equally Important: This is a two-week class; each week operates Mon.-Fri. on the dates and times provided here. You are to attend all sessions, and if you must miss one, then please write to Mr. Cowan about this [address above] to get this ironed WELL before the class begins. Okay, here's the description:

Wade Cowan (the coach with the most state titles in Tennessee mock trial competition and numerous decades of experience) is returning to teach the boys here once again in Mock Trial this summer.  If you want to practice your mock trial skills, or learn if this is an extra curricular activity for you then sign up! 

Not everybody who wants to be on the Mock Trial Team gets on the team--they are now winning national championships afterall. However, attending this class for two week is a pretty good way to get better and get noticed! 

And finally, you might find that some requirements for the Law Merit Badge or even the Communications Merit Badge can be met by this class. Also, you might want to take a good look at Public Speaking because there appears to be some crossover there as well. If you have designs on obtaining these merit badges then work with Mr. Cowan WELL BEFORE the class takes place to see how many requirements you can meet! 

In recent years there's been a large uptick in the Board Gaming hobby to emulate and improve a truly famous game: Goomhaven (2017). Many considered this be "Dungeon & Dragons" in a box. It shot to #1 on the most comprehensive ranking site for over 100K games. It stayed there for years. Gloomhaven kept a lot of the fighting of role playing games intact and forced a three-dimensional perspect role playing games largely lack. Most importantly, this game doesn't require a game master. Everyone is a player with the game run by a tight AI algorithm. This genre of board games, and there now MANY, actually began sometime ago. We are going back what is largely considered the first fully fleshed out version: Heroquest from the 1980s. It's been re-released with updated, well, everything! We have many more to choose from if the students want to switch up the game mid-week. 

Thinking about getting a 3D printer, but don't know where to start?  Then taking this class is a good idea. We'll go through the basics of how to set up a 3D printer. Look at affordable, creative, and fun ways of using it. Finally, we'll do some post-production on our creations to really make them pop! 

If you have taken this course before, please know it's the same content. Last year's classes had double waitlists, so it's newcomers only.

Thinking about getting a 3D printer, but don't know where to start?  Then taking this class is a good idea. We'll go through the basics of how to set up a 3D printer. Look at affordable, creative, and fun ways of using it. Finally, we'll do some post-production on our creations to really make them pop! 

If you have taken this course before, please know it's the same content. Last year's classes had double waitlists, so it's newcomers only.

Note: These are some of the beasties we've painted in years past. If you look at the far right then you'll see what these dudes look like right out of the box.  

Students will be learning to paint some miniatures with paintbrushes and  airbrushes to create some awesome pieces. Students will learn all of the basic techniques and leave with an assortment of different brushes and miniatures to continue to paint on their own. 

If you have taken this class again, sign up again if you wish. You will be taught some advanced techniques if you do -- along with some cool, new minis to paint in class, and take home! 

Interestingly, a lot of requirements for the Painting Merit Badge can be delivered by this class, so if you are Boy Scout check that our WELL BEFORE our class and let Dr. Lech know if you are interested in going for this badge. 

This three day class will teach you how to move your frisbee game to the next level. The first two days are on campus; the third is often a  field trip to Charlotte Park.  This class is very popular with the boys. So, we encourage you take a spot if you know you can be on those days and times.

One of the more interesting aspects of this class is that over the last year and this one the school has purchased the multiple versions of the sophisticated discs you can imagine: They record their flight data! Now, you can have numerous metrics on every throw after you download the data into rather intriguing graphs.

This class is for everybody who wants to have a little fun this summer throwing frisbees with people who know how to do expertly. Yet, it's even better for those interested in the Ultimate Frisbee or Disc Golf teams, for sure!

Join Mr. Hannon and Mr. Reynolds to delve into the science of flying discs. Why do they fly as they do? How do we make them go where we want them to go? What physical and chemical properties apply to their flight? We'll spend some time in the classroom before heading outside to test our hypotheses. You'll even get a custom, premium disc at the conclusion of the class.