Liftoff Design Sprint:
Rethinking the Launch Years
The world keeps evolving. Learning should too. Liftoff brought a cross-sector community together to reimagine the launch years as future-ready learning experiences, wherever learning happens.
December 2–4, 2025 · Silicon Valley, CA
View the Models Why Did We Gather
The years following middle school represent one of the most pivotal—and under-designed—phases in a young person’s life. Adolescence through early adulthood is when identity forms, agency develops, and pathways into work, learning, and civic life begin to take shape. Yet traditional high school structures were largely designed for a different era and are increasingly misaligned with the realities young people face today.
Rapid advances in technology, especially AI, are reshaping how people learn, work, and participate in society. At the same time, young people are navigating unprecedented social, economic, and mental health challenges. These shifts demand learning environments that are more adaptive, more humane, and more connected to the real world.
In December 2025, a group of young people, school leaders, technologists, researchers, and nonprofit leaders came together to explore what new learning models for ages 13–22 could look like in this moment. The goal was not to produce a single solution, but to generate a set of concrete, imaginative starting points. What emerged from the sprint is intentionally unfinished—meant to be tested, adapted, and built upon. If something shared here sparks your imagination, we invite you to take it forward and make it real.
Who
- Approximately 75 participants spanning education, technology, research, philanthropy, and civic leadership
- Young people as full design partners, not just participants
- 10 multidisciplinary design teams working side by side
What
- A 2.5-day, in-person design sprint in Silicon Valley
- The sprint opened with youth-created exhibits that grounded the work in lived experience
- 10 distinct learning models developed through rapid ideation and prototyping
How
- The sprint was intentionally designed around a shared set of anchors that guided both the process and the outcomes. These anchors ensured teams were not designing in isolation, but working within common principles and constraints.
Design Anchors
The sprint was intentionally designed around a shared set of anchors that guided both the process and the outcomes. Youth perspectives were central throughout the work, with young people’s lived experiences shaping problem framing, challenging assumptions, and providing real-time feedback on emerging ideas. Rather than designing for students, teams designed with them, ensuring the models reflected real needs, aspirations, and constraints.
Teams also explored how AI and emerging technologies could meaningfully support learning, agency, and connection, while remaining grounded in human relationships and judgment. Educators, technologists, funders, and civic leaders collaborated across disciplines, bringing diverse expertise into shared conversations and decisions. Across all teams, there was a consistent focus on the whole learner, with models integrating academic learning alongside social, emotional, and civic development.
“
What’s really sticking with me is how generative it was to be in conversation with others who are wrestling seriously with AI and education—not from a place of hype or fear, but from values and lived experience. I keep coming back to the idea that the most important work isn’t about tools, but about clarity of purpose: what we believe young people deserve, and how AI might amplify (or undermine) human-centered learning if we’re not thoughtful.
– Participant
The Learning Models
Over the course of the sprint, teams translated shared questions and principles into tangible learning models. Each model represents a different approach to supporting young people during the launch years.
Rather than prescribing a single vision for the future of high school, the sprint produced a portfolio of ideas. These models vary in structure, setting, and emphasis—but all were shaped by the same design anchors and informed by youth perspectives.
Some models focus on new ways of organizing time and learning. Others explore how technology might support personalization, mentorship, or real-world connection. Together, they offer a glimpse into what learning during the launch years could become.
Explore the models below.
Forma
Supporting deeply personalized learning pathways at scale
LifeLab
Promises every student ownership over a personalized life plan and structured support to reflect, grow, and recalibrate over time
Liftoff
Thriving learners. Connected communities. Real impact.
Mc²
All of a young person’s world is a learning environment, recognizing learning wherever it happens
Public Good Project
Students learn by taking on real, community-defined challenges
Remix
From standalone institutions to community-embedded growth
The H3 Adult
Guiding young people to navigate change with confidence and purpose
The Hub School
Community-connected hubs replace traditional seat time with real-world experiences and paid work to help students unlock agency, belonging, and competency
The Life I Want
Human-led and AI-amplified learning where purpose meets mentorship in a real-world ecosystem
Waves Prep
A phased, competency-based learning model supporting young people from early adolescence into early adulthood
Continuing the Work
The Liftoff Design Sprint was never meant to produce a single answer or a finished solution. The learning models shared here are intentionally early—designed as prototypes, not prescriptions. They represent a snapshot of what becomes possible when young people and cross-sector leaders come together to reimagine the launch years with curiosity, urgency, and care.
Each model is an invitation. Some may feel immediately applicable; others may spark new questions or adaptations. We encourage you to explore the ideas, test them in real contexts, and reshape them to meet the needs of your community. Whether you are an educator, policymaker, funder, technologist, or young person, your perspective and participation matter.
The launch years shape how young people see themselves and their place in the world. Getting them right will require experimentation, collaboration, and the courage to move beyond familiar structures. This work is just a beginning—and we invite you to help carry it forward.
Want to hear about future design opportunities like this one? Share feedback and ideas? Tell us about a design you are trying to build? Get in touch with the LearnerStudio team!