Inspiring Conversations with Mason Mitchell London Marsinick of InventQuest

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mason Mitchell London Marsinick.

Mason Mitchell, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
InventQuest started with an idea that Mason Mitchell and London Marsinick shared: kids should have opportunities to be creative, build things, experiment, and discover what they’re capable of outside of a traditional classroom.

We began by developing the idea for a STEM-focused summer camp for elementary students. As we worked through the curriculum, researched what it would take to run a nonprofit, and started building relationships in our community, the idea became much more real. We officially began building InventQuest as a nonprofit and started working toward our first full summer camp in 2027.

Since then, we’ve been developing our curriculum, fundraising, working with community organizations, and figuring out all the behind-the-scenes pieces that come with starting an organization from scratch. We’re also using smaller programs and events, including our upcoming Discovery Day, to introduce families to InventQuest and learn what works before our first full camp.

It’s definitely been a learning experience, but seeing something that started as an idea turn into an actual organization has been incredibly exciting. We’re still at the beginning, but we’re excited about where InventQuest can go and the impact we hope it can have on kids in our community.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. Starting a nonprofit from the ground up has come with a lot of challenges, especially because we’re learning as we go.

One of the biggest struggles has been figuring out everything that happens behind the scenes—incorporating the organization, applying for nonprofit status, fundraising, building a curriculum, finding community support, and managing a budget. There have been times when we’ve had to rethink our plans or deal with setbacks, but each one has taught us something.

Another challenge has been balancing InventQuest with school and everything else we have going on. It can be a lot of work, but having two people building it together has made a huge difference. When one of us gets overwhelmed or stuck, the other can help keep things moving.

The road definitely hasn’t been perfectly smooth, but honestly, those challenges have made us more confident in what we’re building. We’ve learned that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start—you just have to be willing to learn and keep moving forward.

We’ve been impressed with InventQuest, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
InventQuest is a youth-focused nonprofit organization built around STEM, creativity, and invention. Our mission is to inspire students K–5 to create, innovate, and invent through accessible STEM programming.

Our main program is a week-long summer camp for students in grades K–5. Rather than simply teaching kids about STEM, we want them to actually use it. Our curriculum is built around hands-on challenges, experiments, invention, teamwork, and creativity. We want kids to leave camp feeling like they’re capable of being creators and problem-solvers, not just consumers of technology.

One thing that sets InventQuest apart is that we’re intentionally designing the entire experience around kids having the freedom to experiment. There isn’t always one perfect answer to a challenge, and sometimes an idea doesn’t work—and that’s part of the process. We want failure to feel like another step toward figuring something out.

We’re also proud that InventQuest is being built from the ground up by young people who genuinely care about creating opportunities for other kids. We’re not trying to make STEM feel intimidating or overly academic. We want it to feel exciting, accessible, and fun.

Ultimately, we want readers to know that InventQuest is about much more than a summer camp. We’re building an organization that we hope will help kids discover that they can ask questions, come up with ideas, build something that didn’t exist before, and make an impact in their own communities.

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We think STEM education is going to become even more important over the next 5–10 years, especially as technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other fields continue to develop. Kids are growing up in a world where the tools available to them are changing incredibly quickly, so education needs to keep evolving with it.

We also think there will be a greater emphasis on hands-on learning and skills like creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking. Knowing how to use a technology is important, but knowing how to think creatively and use that technology to solve problems is becoming just as important.

Accessibility is another area we hope continues to improve. STEM opportunities can sometimes be expensive or difficult for families to access, and we think more programs will focus on making these experiences available to students regardless of their background or circumstances.

For InventQuest, that’s exciting because those changes align closely with our mission. We want to help prepare students not just for the technology that exists today, but for a future where they’ll need to be curious, adaptable, creative, and willing to invent solutions to problems that may not even exist yet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://inventquest.org
• Instagram: @inventquest_stem
• Facebook: @InventQuest STEM