Becoming, together.
A cohort-based program that helps students move beyond simply surviving college to discovering who they are and the life they want to build.
Through deep listening, reflection, and self-designed challenges, students learn to understand themselves, build meaningful relationships, and navigate the larger ecosystem of college and life beyond it.
Students are often asked to decide who they want to be before they’ve had the chance to explore who they are.
College is often framed as a time of freedom and possibility. But for many students, the transition is also overwhelming. Nearly 40% report mental health struggles, and a majority feel academically overwhelmed during their first year.
At the same time, students are navigating new academic expectations, unfamiliar social environments, and the challenge of building a life away from home. Most are trying to figure it out alone.
College provides classes, majors, and career pathways. But the deeper work — understanding yourself, building meaningful relationships, and learning how to navigate complexity — is rarely taught.
We learn, grow, and become ourselves in relationship. Becoming Labs is a community where students discover who they are — and who they’re becoming — together.
The transition is harder than it looks.
of college students report experiencing moderate or high levels of stress in the past month.
report symptoms of depression, and more than a third report significant anxiety.
first-year students say they struggle to feel a sense of belonging on campus.
Sources: American College Health Association National College Health Assessment; Healthy Minds Network Healthy Minds Study; Gallup–Lumina Foundation State of Higher Education Study.
Rooted in generative listening and community learning.
For eighteen years, I’ve worked with students on admissions essays that help them enter college. But the deeper work was helping students discover and voice their authentic selves.
Those conversations revealed something important: getting into college is only the beginning. Students also need support navigating identity, relationships, academic pressures, and purpose.
They need a place where their whole selves — mind, culture, emotions, curiosity, and dreams — are seen and supported. Becoming Labs creates that space.
Students meet in small cohorts guided by two adult mentors and a junior or senior student advisor who navigated the same transition. Together they reflect, experiment, and learn to navigate their new environments with clarity and confidence.
Because becoming who you are is not something anyone can do alone. We are social creatures; we become in relationship. We believe each other into being.— after Jennifer Michael Hecht
Three cycles. Three months. One becoming.
Becoming Labs runs in three cycles over three months, each focused on a different dimension of growth. Each cohort includes up to 12 students and meets once a week for 90 minutes.
Self
- Values and motivations
- Strengths and patterns
- How you learn best
Others
- Deep listening
- Trust and vulnerability
- Friendships and mentors
Ecosystem
- Opportunities and networks
- Contributing to your community
- Exploring career possibilities
Listen
Understand your experiences and environment.
Build
Design small experiments and new habits.
Share
Reflect with the group and learn from each other.
Students who thrive don’t just work harder — they learn to grow with support, reflection, and community.
Becoming Labs helps students move toward the green line — by creating space to explore, connect, and grow.
Here’s how.
Each cycle builds on the last — from inner clarity, to relationships, to the wider world.
Understand Yourself
Clarify your values, motivations, strengths, and patterns.
Build Relationships
Practice listening, develop trust, and cultivate friendships and mentors.
Navigate the Ecosystem
Learn how to find opportunities, build networks, and shape your path.
Three common transitions. One shared challenge.
Starting college is not just an academic shift. It’s a transition in identity, relationships, and independence.
Figuring out who you are outside familiar expectations
Many students arrive having succeeded in structured environments. In college the questions become open-ended: What motivates me? What do I care about? What life do I want to build?
Creating friendships, support systems, and mentors
Students leave behind long-standing networks and enter a place where everyone is also finding their footing. Meaningful relationships take curiosity, vulnerability, and confidence.
Learning how college actually works
From choosing classes to finding mentors, discovering opportunities, and managing competing demands — college is a complex system students must learn to navigate.
Every student’s situation is different — but the underlying challenge is often the same. If any of this resonates, Becoming Labs was designed for you.
Practical tools for navigating college — and life beyond it.
- Understand their strengths, challenges, and values
- Manage time, energy, and academic demands
- Build supportive friendships and mentorship networks
- Ask for help — and offer support to others
- Navigate college ecosystems with confidence
- Experiment with goals and reflect on what they learn
The goal is not perfection.
It isn’t about getting every decision right, or having it all figured out by the end of year one.
The goal is vulnerability and bravery, discovery and resilience, community and authenticity.
Becoming who you are should never depend on what you can afford.
Becoming Labs is committed to access. For every student whose family pays tuition, we will support a scholarship student — especially first-generation, undocumented, low-income, or marginalized students who face the steepest transitions with the least support.
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“Becoming Labs gave me a place to ask the questions I didn’t know I was carrying — and a group of people who were asking them too. I left knowing myself, not just my schedule.”Student Name — Cohort 1, [University] · Replace this with a real student or partner story.
Facilitated by practitioners who lead by listening.
Becoming Labs is guided by mentors who learn by doing — and a student advisor who has navigated the same transition.
Team Member
Facilitator & co-founder
Team Member
Mentor
Team Member
Mentor
Student Advisor
Junior / senior guide
Three months. Twelve students. One becoming.
Ready to explore Becoming Labs?
Becoming who you are is not something anyone can do alone. Let’s start with a conversation.
Schedule a conversationThe Transition Quiz Coming soon
A short reflection to help students see where they are in their transition — and where Becoming Labs can help.