Sherman: Millennials behind Brainery kick it old-school

Robert Fulghum's runaway best-seller, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, extolled the virtues of playing fair, being nice and being curious. The lessons still ring true 26 years after first publishing, but I can imagine one of our kids someday writing the runaway best-seller, All I Really Need to Know I Learned on YouTube.

As I sat through my son's college orientation for parents, I kept hearing how millennials learn differently; how they need to be entertained; how books are not enough. Today, they need multimedia and social media to learn. Turns out, all these years while I was screaming at him to get off the computer, my son was actually "learning."

I can't help but think, if we reduce all the ways millennials learn to sound bites, they might be losing something important they had back in kindergarten: community.

I remember when hands-on learning involved hands on the actual things, not a keyboard. Plus, I remember sitting in an actual classroom and learning from an actual person. That's why it was refreshing to see that two Rochester millennials, Stephanie Rankin and Danielle Raymo, continue to go old-school with their actual meeting place for adult learners, the Rochester Brainery.

Their latest way to connect and learn in person is the Brainery Spectacular from 5 to 9 p.m. Aug. 4 at 1050 East Ave. during Asbury First United Methodist's Tent Week, where people can take a yoga class, hear a story slam or tour East Avenue homes in partnership with the Landmark Society.

Stephanie and Danielle even became friends the old-fashioned way, meeting in person through mutual friends. They each studied marketing — Stephanie at RIT and Danielle at Brockport. Danielle eventually moved to Brooklyn while working for Geneva-based Red Jacket Orchards to run their events, branding and social media. Stephanie works in Academic Affairs at RIT as an event planner.

A few years ago, Danielle brought her boss to speak at an event at the Brooklyn Brainery, across the street from where she lived. His class sold out instantly.

When Stephanie came to visit Danielle, she took her, too, to the Brooklyn Brainery. Stephanie was so impressed, the two decided to put their own brains together to create a Rochester version. Stephanie says, "We started to think about all the experts in Rochester who could speak about so many random things that we wanted one place for people to hear them."

Danielle moved back to Rochester, and the Rochester Brainery opened at the Village Gate in March 2013.

Classes are offered seven days a week. On the second Saturday of each month, local artists share their crafts at the Brainery Bazaar.

For these millennials, it's not the number of hits but the number of people that count.

For more on classes, go to rochesterbrainery.com; for The Brainery Spectacular: https://www.facebook.com/events/ 935165639842275/?source=1.

Read Pam Sherman's columns in Rochester Magazine — in print, on iPad or Android tablets — and follow Suburban Outlaw on Facebook, Twitter.