Ready for the Ivy League Challenge?

 

Transcript

 

SPEAKER A

Welcome back to season two of the Ivy League Prep Academy Podcast. Equipping you to successfully pursue the college of your dreams.We believe everyone deserves to reach their full potential, and the admissions process shouldn't hold you back.

Last night was day five of five day workshop that I've been conducting over Zoom over the past week. I've been doing this workshop called Hacking College Admissions Early College Prep. That actually works. I've been doing it to help parents and teens understand all of the things that we talk about regularly here in the podcast and the things that I teach my students to do in the Ivy League Challenge. But on day five, I invited three previous students to join me in the Zoom Room to answer questions without my prompting, answer questions that I received from the audience or from the parents and teens that joined us. And it was so inspiring to me, hearing their responses and hearing the wisdom that these teens who are in grade nine or grade eleven, the wisdom that they shared. And I decided that that message was important enough to share with my entire podcast audience. Just so you know, the cohort that we are talking about begins now. So on Sunday, January 29, from eight to 10:00 p.m.. Eastern time, is the Sunday night Cohort, and Friday nights begins on the 27th. So that's literally a few hours from now. Also, from eight to 10:00 p.m.. Eastern time, you can register by going to Tilc to register. But even if you're not interested in registering, I want you to listen to the rest of the podcast so you can hear what Healthy College Prep sounds like.

SPEAKER B

Ishida and Alyssa are with us. We might have one more join us soon. Isabella is kind of in between events, and so she's going to try to join us as soon as she can, which will give us three. But I'm really excited even just with these two, with the great representation that they represent, because Ashida is a junior, and I'll ask you to kind of share how busy you are and how much trepidation you felt before you joined because of how busy you were and how it's like, I don't know if I can join. In fact, you felt like you couldn't, and you joined anyway, knowing that you couldn't attend very many classes, and then you ended up attending everything, which was awesome. So I can't wait to hear your take on that. And then Alyssa is in 9th grade and can give that perspective of someone who is already very active and ambitious, but not quite a junior and kind of is it too early in 9th grade or you had classmates who are in 7th grade or 6th or 8th grade as well, and your take on that. And I think we can kind of begin there, if that's okay. Our goal is to just let the students speak for themselves. So I'm going to try to stop myself from jumping in and let the students share their experiences. So, Ishida, maybe could you begin? And the couple of questions that I've already received, the requests that I've received are number one, my daughter or son is already a junior. Is it too late? Okay. So, Ishida, could you start us off and say, tell us what it was like when you were thinking, I wish I could do this, but I just don't have time, but I'll do it anyway, and I'll let you kind of take over, introduce yourself and share that experience with us, if you would.

SPEAKER C

Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Ashita. I'm a junior in Ohio. So if you're around there, you'll probably know. But yeah, so I did the Ivy League Challenge the first semester of junior year or so. It was in the fall of 2022, and that was when it starts to ramp up with the coursework and everything. And going from sophomore to junior year is like a big transition because you're taking more APS, more honors, you're more busy because you're trying to get ready for college, that kind of thing. And so I was kind of in that. And then my mom was like, hey, there's this guy doing this. Do you want to join? Because I think he could really help you try to figure out that how to figure out college, and it might be good for you. And I was like, okay, what's so different about him that you want me to join? And so she was like, well, it's not just about college prep. He talks about all of this other really cool stuff about how to maintain your sleep schedule or how to be more productive, that kind of thing. And I was like, well, those are things I need help with, so maybe I should join and see how it goes. And in regards to the Impact Project, I had already started doing a project that I didn't really know was my Impact Project. And so when I talked to him on my first one on one meeting, I mentioned this to Steve, and he was like, this is great. This is like an Impact Project, and you can really kind of dive deep into how to expand this more, how to make it more unique for your college applications. And so I was like, this is great. And he also mentioned that after I told him all the other things that I was doing, he also mentioned that, hey, you don't have to join every single class because I think you are a little ahead than other people that join this cohort. And so I was like, okay, I'll try to join as much as I can try to join to the ones that interest me. And I joined. And I absolutely loved the way that he was doing all of the content and the way that we were able to talk to people all over the world that come from different backgrounds, and so that really made me want to come every single week. And so it ended up being more like from I don't have time to how do I make time? 2 hours in my week to do this, or as much as I can, at least. So that's kind of how it transitioned over the cohort.

SPEAKER B

Wow. Thank you for sharing that. Alyssa, can you start off and hi, Isabella. So happy to have you here. Also, Alyssa, can you kind of start off with, am I too young? And kind of share your experience also, if you would?

SPEAKER D

Right. So I think for me, I joined Ivy League Challenge in my first semester of freshman year in high school, and I also thought it was a little bit early because I wasn't sure. I had a lot of questions and doubts about getting into a good college because a lot of the things I've been told, either in my community or by my parents or by adults, are that you just have to work really hard, see what everyone is doing, take as many classes as you can, and get really good grades on those. And that's how you stand out. But before this program, first of all, I was not that confident that I could outdo everybody in just taking as many classes and getting your GPA as high as possible, and I wasn't sure where to start. But some of the things we did kind of helped me clarify what my core interests are. So that really motivated me to start kind of, like, looking into the things that I can start on now as a freshman that can prepare me for things that might get me into college, but just other things that don't even have to be related to getting into college, necessarily. But those things are really, like I never really thought about them before the program, so it definitely did help me as a freshman, or even, I think, before freshman year is okay too. But I think I learned a lot about myself and where I could go from here. I think it's really helpful.

SPEAKER B

Amazing. Thank you for sharing that, Isabella. Welcome. I know you were just, like, racing from one activity to another, and thank you so much for taking a few minutes to join us. We just introduced Ishida, who's a junior and who you don't know. She was in a different cohort from you and Alyssa, who you know very well in the same cohort as you. And actually, one of the things I'll just share with the parents who are here both in Facebook Live and here on Zoom, is that Alyssa and Isabella were best friends in elementary school. And so Isabella joined the program before Alyssa and then said, hey, you should look into this anyway, if you could introduce yourself and maybe how or why you decided to join the Ivy League Challenge, and then if there's a story there, I don't know if there is, but why you decided to reach out to Alyssa.

SPEAKER E

Right? So I'm Isabella, and I'm also a freshman like Alyssa. And so how I discovered I really challenge was my mom is super into college stuff, and she's great at it, honestly. And she likes listening to podcasts about college, and she loves listening to she just loves everything about applying to college. So she found Steve, and for the first time, she told me she found someone who she agrees with almost everything, and she thinks he has a really good perspective, and she realized that he has, like, an Ivy League Challenge program, and so she wanted me to sign up for it. And honestly, from what I heard just in the car listening to his podcast, I was already really excited and talking to him. There's a little conversation. You can have a conversation with him for a little bit before the cohort actually starts, and that's really awesome. He's just great. And I decided to reach out for Alyssa because we both have similar interests, and I know she's having a bit of a hard time being confident in herself, I think. And so we decided it would be really great to have her just and also really fun just to have her with me in the Ivy League Challenge.

SPEAKER B

You guys did have a lot of fun. That was a fun cohort to have you guys kind of interacting with each other. I love the way you really understate your mom's college admissions expertise. So anyway, I had a call scheduled with your mom to just chat, and she was like, you know what? One of the friends that I worked with just got into Cornell, and I want to go celebrate with them. I'm so sorry to stop you or to reschedule at such late notice or whatever. And then, of course, your three siblings you're the fourth of four, and I can't remember which three schools are, like, these unknown, weird schools somewhere. What are the three schools your siblings went to?

SPEAKER E

This is always super hard. MIT, Yale, and then Harvard.

SPEAKER B

Yeah. So I really felt like so this is a two part question. On the one hand, I love it because I have a degree from Harvard. I love what Harvard did to me. For me, your sister loves what she's learned at Harvard, at least from what I hear from your mom. And I think teens should be ambitious about where we want to go to college. And the best news of all is that the healthy approach to college prep, the healthy plus diligent. Right? You can't just relax on the beach because you say your core values are relaxing on the beach, or core values can't be video games and social media. Like, that's not going to get you in either. But the truly healthy approach that is really, really meaningful is the most effective approach. And I love that your mom heard the podcast and said, wow, I've never listened to someone who agrees with everything that teach the people that I work with. And so I love that. But I want to carry on to a question for any of the three of you that we did get, and this is the one that I had forgotten about Alyssa that I just looked on my email. Oh, yeah. This is what someone asked. My son or daughter is not even considering Ivy League or top 50 or top 100 colleges or top 200, although she didn't say that. But I just want to emphasize is this course. I mean, it's called the Ivy League Challenge. Would my son or daughter be out of their element? Would they feel out of place if everyone else is type A personalities, high strung, focused only on harbor or Yale or else or else quitting the world altogether? How would my son or daughter feel in that cohort? Go for it, Isabella.

SPEAKER E

Okay, so I think it might be hard at first to see all these super motivated people, and it's like, I'm not to feel like you're not like that, but I think the Ivy League Challenge overall is just, like, really motivating. I came in not really knowing if I could do if I could do it, and honestly, I wasn't really as motivated.

SPEAKER D

But now that I did it, I'm.

SPEAKER B

Like, wait, is are they frozen?
SPEAKER E

Okay, good. So I think even if you're not very ambitious right now, it's a good experience to figure out that you can really do it, and it's actually a.

SPEAKER C

Healthy thing to do. Yeah, I think I can have a slightly different perspective since I'm closer to the college process a little bit more. But I think when I came in, I wasn't looking at Ivy League schools at all. I think even Steve knew that. And I didn't feel out of my element at all, because that just wasn't what my goal was. And even though it's called the Ivy League Challenge, it's not prepping you just for Ivy Leagues. It's doing so much more. It's about having a healthy mindset towards college. So even if your son or daughter is not looking at Ivy League schools per se, you can still get a lot out of it, because I think you come out like a changed person in terms of how you're looking at the college process. And that can be really beneficial when it actually comes to doing the common apps and doing those personal essays, because you know so much about yourself once you come out of it. I know my core values. I know what makes me me. That was something that I think every teenager struggles with when they write their personal essays. Like, what do I write? I know you should be yourself, but I don't know myself well enough to write an essay on it. And so I think that was one of the things that really helped me. Now I can possibly sit down and brainstorm at least a few ideas on what those essays would look like. And so I don't think it's about coming in with the mindset of not wanting to go to a selective school or an Ivy League school, per se.

SPEAKER B

Beautiful.

SPEAKER D

I think for me, one of the points that Steve made in our cohort was that we wanted to learn with the mindset that we're learning so that colleges would be lucky to have us. Instead of we're reaching for a specific just, we're trying to put ourselves into the mold of a specific college, if you know what I mean. For me, I came in actually completely clueless about what college I wanted to go to, and I wasn't really aiming for Ivy League either when I first came because I thought that was completely out of my reach. And I think after learning about what I was passionate about, and that takes a lot of thinking and reflection to know what actually motivates you to learn. I think for me, we were kind of thinking beyond just a specific college and how you just get into that one college. So I definitely think it would be helpful for everyone, no matter what college you're aiming for.

SPEAKER B

And yeah, so good. Thank you guys so much. Alyssa has a request. How has this helped you, starting now? So this is a mother who I assume has a maybe 8th grade or 9th grade daughter or son, maybe 7th grade. I don't know what the grade is. Mino, if you want, you can type that in and you're welcome to unmute yourself, you guys, if you want to just ask the questions directly, totally fine. If you want to do that or type them in, either way is fine. But she's saying, okay, you're in 9th grade. How did this help you starting now? And then later on, she followed up with Ashita. Would it be better to start later then? Because the teen needs life experience, et cetera. And so we'll start with Alyssa's take and then go from there. Alyssa, what do you think? Start earlier or how has it helped you to start now instead of waiting until you're really, really busy?

SPEAKER D

I think definitely one of the biggest things is that it helped me kind.

SPEAKER B

Of.

SPEAKER D

How do I say this? Just having the community of everybody from Ivy League challenge, it's really motivating. Like Isabella said, like, you're seeing all these kids who come together and they share their ideas on how they think, they'll make themselves the best version of themselves and how to take their core interests as, like, for example, a 9th grader. For me, I discovered that I had an interest in the mental health field because that's what's personal to me and because of my personal experiences, for example, that's one of the reasons why I want to make an impact on the world that's one of the things I discovered because of Steve's Cohort. So starting from that cohort, I've been looking at ways that just, like, in my community, just small things that I can join or small things that I can create by myself or with my friends to start making an impact, even though I may not be, like, an expert in the field. So I think if you start from freshman year, for example, you could start a club at your school or something. It's completely doable as a freshman. So there's, like, a lot of things you can do as a freshman. So I feel like it works really well if you know your core interests from the beginning of high school. So you can build that as an ongoing project going into college, if you.

SPEAKER B

Know what I mean. Isabella, maybe before ishida isabella, do you have thoughts also, as a 9th grade? It looks like the person asking this has a 9th grade daughter, so she's asking for a 9th grade daughter. Any thoughts? Is it too early?

SPEAKER E

For me, I'd say it's never too early, because in the Ivy League Challenge, you really get to know yourself, and I feel it's better to learn about yourself sooner than later. There are adults who probably really regret some things or, like, not knowing themselves as well before, or they never do. And I'd say that it's really not too early. And also oh, sorry. It's important to know that if you start earlier, you just have more time. You have more time to make an impact and develop your project. And whereas if you're older, you might have less time, and you'll be kind of rushing, which is a lot of pressure, too.

SPEAKER B

SheetA does that sound familiar?

SPEAKER C

A little bit, yeah. But I totally agree with Ellison. Isabella, I think you have the benefits when you start earlier, you get the benefit of having more time to develop your idea. And if one idea doesn't go the way that you want it to, you can kind of pivot to another one, and you have that luxury of time to do that. But I think also, in terms of at least for me, I think if I did this as a freshman or a sophomore, I probably wouldn't have gotten as much out of it because I wouldn't be as willing to put that much into it. That was just for me. And so I think that me doing it junior year kind of gave me a sense of more direction, and it's a little bit more clearer for me because I feel like I wouldn't have really put that much into doing the actual activities or things like that. And so I feel like it would have been maybe less beneficial for me in a way. So I think it's, like, a hard question to answer because it's so subjective to your child, and so I think it's just important to think about what your daughter or son is going through in high school and how that their coursework and their extracurriculars and how that wouldn't play into also doing this. So I think it's just a really hard question to answer because everyone has their own opinions. So I think it just depends on the child.

SPEAKER B

Really good answers. You guys, I love that I'll say two things, even though I wanted to. There we go. Isabella, do you want to say that? Because I was just about to say that just to clarify for everyone. Go for it, Isabella.

SPEAKER E

Well, you can always join in later cohorts for no additional cost at all. You can really just sign up and do it again later. So if you do need that extra push later on, there's always that resource available for you and it's really worth it.

SPEAKER B

So that's what I was going to say. Really important to know. Sometimes cognitively, especially sometimes we have students. I don't think any of you had a 6th grader in any of your cohorts, but I've had cohorts with 6th graders in them before. Ishida you were there with the 6th graders? Maybe, I don't remember, but we've had 7th graders. Is not that uncommon. 8th graders, every time there's 8th graders in every cohort and some children, their brains develop faster. And by 6th grade, they really are ready to think about this and understand their core values. And some are barely getting there in 8th grade. And by the time they're 20, you can't tell the difference between these two people. Just one started earlier, one started later. It's totally fine. But if the concern is, man, I don't know how my son's going to respond to this or my daughter's going to respond to this. One thing that might help is number one, life begins when you figure out your core values. I really believe that. I believe that strongly. And it doesn't matter if you figure that out when you're 50 or 70 or you're 15 or 13. Right. And then the second thing is just to make it a little bit easier to know if the timing is right. I've had students on rare occasions, but I fully support it. Take the first three or four weeks and say, you know what, for one reason or another, I want to restart this in a future cohort. And I support them with that. And I've had lots of students retake cohorts, and that's great, a great option also. Okay, but this is your show, so I'm going to try to stop myself from jumping in. Sarah Kim asks, aside from Isabella's project regarding mental health, what are your impact projects? And maybe Isabella, it's Alyssa that talked about mental health. Alyssa could also share your thoughts and where you're at because mental health is just a really big idea. But in whatever order you guys want to go, share your thoughts on your impact projects as they are.

SPEAKER C

Yeah, so my impact project is like, a Stem camp for middle school girls, especially for underrepresented ethnicities in Stem and underprivileged girls in those areas. And so I did a Stem camp the summer of 2022, and then I had the cohort. So from then, I started to think about how I can expand this and how I can make it better. So since then, I formed, like, an executive team and an advisory board, and we're working on getting a camp out for the spring. And so it's something that I'm working on constantly. And so one of the things that made it super unique is that I try to get some kind of Showstopper event. So for the summer, I had a Stem van that had 3D printers and laser cutters inside the van. And then the students went inside and did an activity. And then for the spring cohort, I'm planning on doing I'm having a person from the Women's Air and Space Museum in my area come in and do a really cool activity related to astronomy. So that's going to be, like, my showstopper event for the spring. And so I try to make it super unique and try to think of really cool Stem activities that these girls don't get in their schools, whether it's because of the lack of resources or they're just focused on trying to get into high school and just finish and graduate. This is my website.

SPEAKER B

As she's describing this, I'm just sharing on the screen her website that was just finished in the last couple of days.

SPEAKER C

Yeah.

SPEAKER B

And I want to emphasize that this is a junior who has executed right. This looks really overwhelming if you're seeing this for the first time, you think, I could never do that. And this is someone who's almost at the end of their journey, right? So done some incredible research, ishida also through her research, had all of her expenses paid to go present her research at Harvard College and some really cool things that she hasn't even mentioned here. But look at the organization that she's created and the diversity of the board for what she's doing. Anyway, this is her website. Thought I'd share that as she was talking. Yeah.

SPEAKER C

So this is also, like I also want to mention this is something that I want to do after high school and into college as well. So I'm trying to lay down, like, a really solid groundwork now while I'm in high school too. So I work extra hard on this. But yeah, I think I saw another question. Is it okay if I take that as well?

SPEAKER B

Let's jump back to that because I want to hear Alyssa and Isabella, your Impact Project values. And I want the parents who are listening in and the teens who are listening in to understand. It starts at a much smaller scale than what ishida is describing it. You start small, and then you build momentum, and we surprise ourselves at what we can accomplish over the long haul, but it doesn't happen all at once. And if you feel like, I couldn't do that, join the club. That's how everyone feels when they're introduced to the fully developed Impact Projects. I had a parent tell me yesterday, look, my daughter's not going to write a new textbook for economics. And I said, yeah, she's not going to do that now or maybe never, but she can do amazing, amazing things, and it starts small, and then we build momentum. So, Alyssa and Isabella, if you have something to share, jump in and share.

SPEAKER C

I also just wanted to add one last thing, is that this is not the only thing I work on. I have a bunch of other things outside of school and this that I also work on. So by no means does this have to be like the entirety of your child's life after this cohort where they're working on this, like twenty four, seven. I just want to add that what you see with the website and what I just explained, that is a lot of trying to manage my time. And I have a team now that helps me with all of this. So I'm not doing all the work like I did when I did the summer cohort. So I just want to mention that what you're seeing with the website, I did none of that. Someone else designed it for me.

SPEAKER B

Great clarification, you're absolutely right. We focus on. Right, Isabella? And Alyssa. How do I make it fun? How do I make it easy? Right? How do I start small and build momentum? There are so many ways to be smart rather than just be head down, focusing and unhealthy about this. We can be healthy and impressive. All right, Alyssa or Isabella?

SPEAKER E

Okay, well, I'll go first. Even though I just want to say first that Ashita is super amazing, I never really talked to her, but I just remember that when we did our cohort, there was another actually a couple of girls interested in Stem as well. And Ashida was the first one Steve mentioned when he heard about that. So I just think she's really cool. Anyway, so I don't really know exactly what my Impact Project is, and I haven't even worked out exactly how to define it, but I know I want to do something for sure in the realm of improving the high school experience in terms of applying to college. Because just with the people around me and who have been around me during my life, I know that applying to college is usually a really stressful process, and it's usually gone about in not the best way, definitely not the healthy way. And so I definitely want to increase awareness and also just quality of high school life in that area. And the most recent idea that actually Steve thought of while I was doing my cohort was that I would join this really popular course. At Yale by a Yale researcher and do extensive research on the material that she brings up in her course.

SPEAKER B

So that's where I aligned with your other impact project. So this is the start with the research and then go back to the community impact approach that we talked about during this workshop for those parents who are listening. Awesome. Can I just say Isabella is right on track too. She's not behind because she hasn't figured out exactly what she wants to do. There is so much kind of tinkering and pivoting where you figure out your core values, you figure out how you can make an impact, and you keep probing and testing, and then something clicks, and that's the thing that you jump on. And a lot of things depend on how you tinker and how you probe in order to get there. So what about you, Alyssa?

SPEAKER D

So I think for me, my kind of area is mental health for teenagers, because that's what kind of matters the most to me. And I think the journey kind of starts with knowing first of all, like Steve said, it really starts with knowing your core values. And for me, it started there. And some of the first things I did were join communities. Either it doesn't have to be those really exclusive. It's very hard to jump into a perfect opportunity first. So I think you start with joining communities. And I've been talking to people at my school, especially the staff at my school, about just awareness and advocacy for student mental health. And I've joined other communities outside of school, and it has opened up a lot of communities and people to connect with in those fields. And I think the journey will only grow from here. So that's kind of where I am with my Impact project. And I know that in the end, I want to do something with research about mental health for kids. So I kind of think about that while selecting my classes for sophomore year as well. So that's one of the other things that has helped me since I'm a freshman. I kind of think the classes that I want to take in order to prepare me for the research, I want to be able to do.

SPEAKER B

Such a great answer. Thank you, guys. I think you were going to jump on the did the Ivy League Challenge influence your approach to selecting what colleges you want to apply to? Is that the one you were going to?

SPEAKER C

Yeah. Okay. So I don't have a perfect college list ready to go. I just have certain disciplines that I'm looking at and certain colleges that I'm looking at. But obviously that's still down the line for me. I'm still figuring out what kind of college would be best for me and what that list might look like. But in terms of how did it influence me, I think I have a more clear understanding of the kind of things I need in a college because I know myself better. So because I know myself better, I can tell, okay, this college has this and it's going to help me grow, it's going to help me do stuff that I want to do. And so one of those things, for instance, is research. I have a very strong interest towards research and I've been doing it most of my high school experience. And so I know that that's something that I want to do in college as well. So I'm looking at universities that have those kind of opportunities for me to do research, whether it's like in a biomedical setting or like something where I'm doing a case study and going out and talking to people, or like a clinical type research. And so that's something that is on my list. And so things like that have added to my list of what kind of college I want to see. So that came from me understanding who I am as a person, which is a really deep question, and I don't think I've fully answered that yet, but it gave me like a starting point to look at. Okay, so these are my core values and this is what I'm passionate about. I need a college that can support my aspirations and my passions. So I think in that way it influenced me, but not like a particular college.

SPEAKER B

Amazing someone. I've got two questions that were direct messaged to me, and so the first one, I'll open up to all three of you because I'm curious. I don't even know the answer. How much time? So the class is 2 hours once a week for twelve weeks, right. How much time do you spend in between classes working on things? And is the homework fun? I love that question. Whoever wants to take it. I don't even know the answer to this, so I'm curious too.

SPEAKER D

I want to say that the homework isn't necessarily what you might think homework is. It's not like school homework. Definitely even the class. What we started with wasn't like college applications to start with. We were learning more about ourselves and reflecting on ourselves. One of the first things he taught us was how to breathe, I believe. So it's definitely not what you think. And some of the homework sort of is just to implement what you kind of learned into your week. Like a lot of changing your habits, like day by day to make those really big impacts in your life. It was really interesting. And it doesn't take a huge amount of your time to do the homework, so it's more of just like implementing things into your life and doing things by yourself. Like after learning how to do it.

SPEAKER C

Yeah, I think one of the homework that I remember the most is when we were trying to figure out our core values and Steve had us ask like five to ten people to describe us in three words. And that was probably one of the most fun things I've ever done because I'm putting people on the spot to describe me in three words, and I was super curious to see what they would say because it was like, my parents, friends, like my age, I had people at my lab do this too. So I've got all age groups trying to assess me and tell me what three words they would use to describe me. And what was really cool was that there was a lot of overlap between those words, which was just like, for me, that seemed really cool because I didn't really realize that that's the kind of response I would get. So it's not like homework. There's a lot of self discovery in there too. But the other part, I think, was how much time do you have to get work done in between during the cohort? So let me tell this. I'll start with having an assignment because I'm a junior, and so I'm super busy, and so I still try to make time to come to the cohort, but I'm like, I'll listen and then try to get an assignment done. I'll end up staring at that assignment after the cohort with. It incompleted because it's so hard to get work done when you're always in breakout rooms talking to other people, trying to brainstorm ideas. So you don't really have a lot of time to do other stuff while you're in there. They're like, very engaging 2 hours. So I don't think you'll really have time to get other work done. But I will say that those 2 hours are super engaging and you won't be bored.

SPEAKER B

Awesome. Anything you want to add, Isabella, or is that good? You added? Definitely. All right.

SPEAKER E

I think they got everything that I wanted to say.
SPEAKER B

Perfect. All right. And so the other question. Let me scroll back to that. The other question. Okay. Did you become friends with your cohort, and how did you do you communicate with people from your cohort after class? It's an interesting question.

SPEAKER C

Yes. So I do. Personally, I was in a different cohort than Alyssa and Isabella. So this is my first time meeting them, I think. So with my cohort, there was a graduate student who she already graduated from college. I'm talking about Jerusalem, and we were in a breakout room a few times, and we were exchanging ideas because two of the people that had already done our Impact projects were kind of ahead compared to the other students who were just starting out and brainstorming their projects. So we connected on that level. And then outside of the cohort, after it ended, we still kept in touch, and we still are in touch, so we still talk. And then during the cohort, there was another girl that I connected with as well, and we would talk about the Impact projects kind of where she was with it, where I was with it, and we'd, like, share ideas. So, yeah, I personally kept in touch with a few people.

SPEAKER D

For our cohort. We're really talking, like, people from all over the world in a little Zoom meeting. And in our cohort, there were people from Asia I'm in California, and a girl from Puerto Rico and a bunch of other places, and we decided it would be a good idea if we had each other's contacts. And the girl from Puerto Rico actually reached out to me about her dad's company, who actually does the app is for teenage mental health, which is exactly what I wanted to look into. So that was also one of the opportunities that, because of someone in my cohort had reached out to me. One of the things that I'm able to do now, I'm on the teenage advisory board for that sort of company, and I kind of get to talk to people who are experts in the field as well because of that. So we definitely have each other's contacts, and it's super helpful to just have all of these opportunities thrown at us once in a while.

SPEAKER B

Beautiful. I'll give one example that I've shared in my podcast before. We have three students who all play the violin, and they did this cohort more than a year ago, and today they still call each other every school day during the time that they agreed to practice violin so that they can kind of encourage each other. And so they use Zoom to call the three of them, and then they mute themselves but leave the camera on, and they just can see each other practicing, and it helps them focus better. I don't know. Something about that warms my heart. I think that's just a fantastic example, but I would say Alyssa and Isabella and Ashita probably don't think that would be unusual. Like, you could totally see that happening as you get to know the people in the cohort, become very good friends. All right, I have already used all three of your time so much more longer than I expected for all three of you. I feel like I'm so grateful to you for answering these questions and being so generous in the middle of homework and activities and everything else that you're involved in to stop what you're doing and help the parents and teens who are listening in either on Zoom or on Facebook Live or in the recording, to just help everyone understand, from your perspective, what you're experiencing. And I'm just truly, truly grateful to all three of you. And so any last words from any of the three of you, and then we'll go ahead and close up.

SPEAKER C

I was just going to say I think you should join the cohort.

SPEAKER D

I was going to say that too. I know for sure.

SPEAKER B

I'll take it. I'll take it. I would love to work with your teens. Those of you who are listening in love to help them in the same way that we've worked with them. And it sounds like we might have Alyssa and Isabella in the cohort with your teens as well, because they plan to join soon. I don't know if that's this cohort or a future one, but absolutely you'll be lucky to have any of these three or I mean, the teens who come into the cohort, I believe, not only are inspiring to me and to everyone that they meet, but they're inspired by each other. And I think it's a very healthy symbiotic experience that they come in and are inspired by their peers, but then they begin to inspire each other through their own authenticity and their own willingness to help each other. So fantastic experience.

SPEAKER C

Yeah. Homework thing. That's a nice plugin open. But one thing I was going to say is I think this is something new that Steve started doing with the alumni monthly meetings where we all kind of from different cohorts talk. Like we meet and talk about our impact projects. Which is kind of cool because those few weeks that you're in that cohort, you're with a certain group of people the entire time, so you know them really well, but you don't get to know the other people that are in other cohorts. So I think it's really cool that every month we're able to discuss about our Impact projects with each other and help each other out and get any questions answered so you can't commit to doing a second cohort. You can still go to those monthly meetings and get some progress done on your Impact project. I think it also motivates you to keep working on it because you're, like, pressured to give Steven update, every update.

SPEAKER B

Wait till all three of you, I've got to say, wait till this cohort, because this cohort, we have now created a new app that adds that the community can join so where the community can see anyway, we've worked very, very hard and it'll be new for this cohort, but all the alumni are welcome to join anyway. We've got much, much better level of support, which I'm very, very excited about. So you'll have to kind of stay tuned because this cohort is going to be introduced to a much more evolved version of that alumni community. It's very exciting. All right, wonderful. Thank you so much, all three of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, parents for bringing your teens and for caring enough about your teens to spend almost an hour every single day this week to try to figure out how to make healthy, how to make college prep healthy. Thanks so much, Alyssa. I know a lot of people are watching the recording or watching it on Facebook Live so they don't see what you texted. Alyssa said, These cohorts will change your life. Trust me with an emoji. And thank you. I love that. I appreciate it. I am so grateful and I would love to work with those of you who have joined us to listen in. I'd love to work with your teens, but let's make the best choices, whatever those choices are. And I'll support you however that is. So thank you everyone, for joining us. Registration closes when the cohorts begin. So the Friday night Cohort begins in less than 24 hours. And the Sunday night Cohort begins on Sunday. Register at tilc t o register. Hope to see you all in the course, and thank you again for joining us today. Thanks, everyone.