A youth development initiative

Young people have more influence than they think.

The Standard Project creates experiences that help students better understand themselves, recognize their responsibility, and take a more intentional role in who they become.

Explore TSP

For Schools

Students gathered outdoors in late afternoon light

The idea

Some of the most important parts of growing up aren't taught directly.

Young people learn through far more than what they are explicitly taught. We learn through relationships, teams, communities, successes, failures, and everyday decisions. Those experiences shape who we become. But we're not just being shaped by what happens around us. How we show up, what we choose, and what we contribute can shape what happens next.

The Standard Project helps students recognize that they have a role to play and gives them opportunities to practice what comes with it.

Core belief

Young people have more responsibility than they realize and a greater ability to create change than they have been led to believe.

The method

Realization is only the beginning.

Recognizing our influence matters most when it changes how we live. The STANDARD Method provides eight principles for putting that realization into practice.

Start with Stillness

Create enough quiet to understand yourself and what deserves your attention.

Start with Stillness

Create enough quiet to understand yourself and what deserves your attention.

Take Responsibility

Take ownership of what you can control and what you choose to do next.

Take Responsibility

Take ownership of what you can control and what you choose to do next.

Act with Intention

Make choices based on what matters instead of simply reacting to what happens.

Act with Intention

Make choices based on what matters instead of simply reacting to what happens.

Nurture Others

Recognize how your actions affect others, and look for ways to make a positive contribution.

Nurture Others

Recognize how your actions affect others, and look for ways to make a positive contribution.

Do Hard Things

Learn to move through discomfort, uncertainty, and difficulty instead of avoiding them.

Do Hard Things

Learn to move through discomfort, uncertainty, and difficulty instead of avoiding them.

Aim Higher

Set higher standards for how you show up, how you treat others, and what you pursue.

Aim Higher

Set higher standards for how you show up, how you treat others, and what you pursue.

Reflect + Repeat

Look back at your experiences, learn from them, and decide what you want to do differently.

Reflect + Repeat

Look back at your experiences, learn from them, and decide what you want to do differently.

Develop Daily

Recognize that who you become is shaped by the small choices you make every day.

Develop Daily

Recognize that who you become is shaped by the small choices you make every day.

The experience

Personal development should be practiced, not simply talked about.

TSP experiences combine short lessons, guided conversation, personal reflection, group activities, and practical challenges that give students opportunities to apply what they learn.

Reflect

Students take time to understand themselves, their experiences, and the environments shaping them.

Reflect

Students take time to understand themselves, their experiences, and the environments shaping them.

Discuss

Students hear different perspectives, share their own, and learn through conversation.

Discuss

Students hear different perspectives, share their own, and learn through conversation.

Practice

Students use exercises and real-world challenges to put ideas into practice.

Practice

Students use exercises and real-world challenges to put ideas into practice.

Repeat

Students reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what they want to carry into everyday life.

Repeat

Students reflect on what worked, what didn't, and what they want to carry into everyday life.

Built with students

TSP is shaped by students.

The Standard Project is being developed alongside students who bring their experiences, questions, ideas, and perspectives into the project. Student Contributors bring their experiences, questions, ideas, and perspectives into the work, helping decide what we build, how we build it, and what deserves to come next.

Become a Contributor →

For schools

Create space for development.

The Standard Project is a flexible eight-part experience designed to fit into existing student life. TSP gives educators structured lessons, discussion guides, activities, reflection exercises, and supporting media, leaving room for each school to make the experience its own.

Bring TSP to Your School →

Designed to live where students already gather.

Advisory programs · Leadership groups · Athletics and teams · Retreats and workshops · Student-led experiences · Global education

Our story

Built from experience. Still being developed through it.

The Standard Project grew out of experiences in student leadership, athletics, entrepreneurship, and the many mistakes and lessons that came with them. Over time, those experiences raised questions about responsibility, involvement, and how young people learn to take a more active role in their own development.

TSP continues to develop through conversations and collaboration with students, educators, and experienced professionals.

Our Story →

Give young people something worth rising to.

We're working alongside students, educators, and schools to create more opportunities for young people to reflect, contribute, take responsibility, and grow.

Interested in learning more or getting involved? Start a conversation below.