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Featured 💡 Spikes can be an antidote to the toxic achievement culture felt by teens 600 586 Lloyd Nimetz

💡 Spikes can be an antidote to the toxic achievement culture felt by teens

In his 2023-24 back-to-school message, our founder shares about how spikes are becoming more common for teens in high-achieving communities and are starting to get recognized, if done right, as a way to protect teens from the toxicity of high achievement culture – to become “healthy achievers”.

Featured Spike Lab’s Class of 2023: College Acceptances & Spikes 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Spike Lab’s Class of 2023: College Acceptances & Spikes

Congratulations to our Class of 2023! We celebrate our Spike Founders’ college results, notable Spikes, and significant growth milestones. 

挑戰不一樣的課外活動！新創實作挑戰營
Featured Join the Spike Foundations Program and Activate Your Entrepreneurship DNA in Four Weeks! 1200 628 Natasha Chou

Join the Spike Foundations Program and Activate Your Entrepreneurship DNA in Four Weeks!

The Spike Foundations Program is a four-week intensive innovation-entrepreneurship BootCamp that aims to help teens between the age of 13 and 17 develop entrepreneurship and executive skills. You will be working with Larry, Spike Lab’s co-founder, and Daniel, a startup coach from Silicon Valley, to design and build a product in four weeks’ time.

Featured Teen Entrepreneurship Ebook: Download for free now! 1000 1000 Natasha Chou

Teen Entrepreneurship Ebook: Download for free now!

“A Teen Entrepreneur’s Handbook” explains the basics of teen entrepreneurship and offers frameworks that turn ideas into reality. Free for a limited time. Download your copy now!

Featured Spike Lab’s Class of 2022: College Acceptances & Spikes 1000 1000 Xueying Chen

Spike Lab’s Class of 2022: College Acceptances & Spikes

Congratulations to our Class of 2022! We celebrate our Spike Founders’ college results, notable Spikes, and significant growth milestones. 

teaching kids gratitude
Featured Teaching Kids Gratitude (Why It Leads to Success) 1000 1000 Larry Liu

Teaching Kids Gratitude (Why It Leads to Success)

In our Spike Coaching program, gratitude is a key marker of whether a student will launch a successful Spike project. This trend speaks to the necessity of teaching kids gratitude. We include tips on how parents can cultivate this trait in their teens.

Youth Entrepreneurship Program
Featured Youth Entrepreneurship Programs: What Makes TSL Different 1000 1000 Lloyd Nimetz

Youth Entrepreneurship Programs: What Makes TSL Different

Are you a teen who wants to a business? Or become an innovator? In this article, I’ll describe the unique benefits of learning entrepreneurship in high school, highlight the beliefs that set Spike Lab apart, and shout out a few other notable programs.

how to build confidence in teens
Featured How To Build Confidence in Teens 1000 1000 Larry Liu

How To Build Confidence in Teens

Confidence is what we feel when we believe in ourselves. How can parents help their teens build this superpower? And how can teens supercharge their confidence through our Spike Coaching program?

self motivation for students
Featured Self-Motivation For Students & How Parents Can Help 1000 1000 Larry Liu

Self-Motivation For Students & How Parents Can Help

Self-motivation can be hard for students to build and maintain. How can they practice motivation as a skill? How can parents support them?

Featured Sixteen Kid Entrepreneurs Dazzle During Pitch Night 940 788 Lloyd Nimetz

Sixteen Kid Entrepreneurs Dazzle During Pitch Night

This article showcases the Spike pitches of sixteen kid entrepreneurs who recently finished our inaugural Young Innovators Program, in partnership with the New Jersey professional chapter of the famous African American Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Featured The Spike Lab successfully completed 1st Young Innovators Program for Alpha Kappa Alpha students 940 788 Lloyd Nimetz

The Spike Lab successfully completed 1st Young Innovators Program for Alpha Kappa Alpha students

Our first pro bono Young Innovators Program with the famous African American Sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, was a success! Learn more about how this workshop serial version of our 1:1 Spike Coaching program develops teen entrepreneurs.

Featured Books for Young Entrepreneurs: Best Recs & Resources 1000 1000 Lloyd Nimetz

Books for Young Entrepreneurs: Best Recs & Resources

Does the idea of being an entrepreneur feel overwhelming? Like you don’t know where to start? This is why we’ve compiled the best books for young entrepreneurs!

well rounded student
Featured Why Being A Well-Rounded Student Isn’t Enough Anymore 1000 1000 Lloyd Nimetz

Why Being A Well-Rounded Student Isn’t Enough Anymore

Decades before, a well-rounded high school student could easily gain college admission into the most elite schools. However, the elite college admissions system shifted with the times. Knowing how modern college admissions has evolved historically can help today’s applicant understand how to stand out in today’s competitive environment.

Featured The Spike Lab’s Reason for Being 1080 674 Lloyd Nimetz

The Spike Lab’s Reason for Being

This article explains our company’s mission: to develop “purpose-driven innovators for life”. We are working to foster a fundamental paradigm shift in adolescent education that puts the development of purposeful innovators at the center.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Sonia Garcia 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Sonia Garcia

An entrepreneur, designer, and engineer, Sonia is passionate about the application of human-centered design (HCD) and technology to improve quality…

The Importance of Self-Reflection for Students With Ambition 1000 1000 Larry Liu

The Importance of Self-Reflection for Students With Ambition

The importance of self-reflection for students appears in both a Spike project and colleges applications. But how do you cultivate this skill that is essential for lifelong learning and success?

The Best Productivity Apps for Students
The 12 Best Productivity Apps for Students 1000 1000 Charlene Chiu

The 12 Best Productivity Apps for Students

We previously posted a blog about time management, so we’re back with a list of the best productivity apps for…

Time Audit: The First Step to Better Time Management 1000 1000 Charlene Chiu

Time Audit: The First Step to Better Time Management

Always feel like you’re running out of time? In this blog, we’ll explain how to conduct a time audit and analyze your time management.

Time Management for Teens: The Entrepreneur Edition 1001 1000 Charlene Chiu

Time Management for Teens: The Entrepreneur Edition

How well your business runs depends on how well you manage your time. Check out these ways to manage time for max productivity.

Craft Your Best Pitch II: Guided Examples 840 840 Charlene Chiu

Craft Your Best Pitch II: Guided Examples

We previously explained how to craft a pitch. In this blog post, we’ll show you two example pitches and explain what works and what doesn’t.

Craft Your Best Pitch I: Where to Start 1000 1000 Charlene Chiu

Craft Your Best Pitch I: Where to Start

Got a great idea for a product or project? Not sure how to pitch it to potential users? Here’s a guide on how to start!

December 2020 Recommended Readings 1280 672 Xueying Chen

December 2020 Recommended Readings

In our work as coaches to high school superstars, we come across important stories on youth innovation and college admissions.…

New Senior Advisors Join Us in Hong Kong 1280 640 Xueying Chen

New Senior Advisors Join Us in Hong Kong

In December 2020, King Sze Yip (left) and Jane Griffiths (right) joined The Spike Lab team in Hong Kong as Senior Advisors. In this post, they talk about their shared history and what drew them to The Spike Lab’s work.

Learning to Rest 1280 384 Larry Liu

Learning to Rest

It’s a hard lesson, but sometimes you need to slow down in order to go faster, and sometimes you need to lay down in order to run.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Daniel Chiu 1000 1000 Xueying Chen

Coach Profiles: Introducing Daniel Chiu

In this post, you’ll meet Daniel Chiu, a software entrepreneur and technology consultant helping teenagers become entrepreneurs themselves.

Finding Purpose: A Four Step Process for Teens 1000 1000 Lloyd Nimetz

Finding Purpose: A Four Step Process for Teens

The best process for developing purpose is through action, a purpose project that we call a Spike. This process is more an art than a science, but we liken it to a very simple 4-step framework that our students follow.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Alex Owens 1000 1000 Xueying Chen

Coach Profiles: Introducing Alex Owens

In this post, you’ll meet Alex Owens, a former classroom teacher with a decade of experience helping students launch ambitious community-oriented projects.

September 2020 Recommended Readings 1280 672 Theo Wolf

September 2020 Recommended Readings

In our work as coaches to high school superstars, we come across important stories on youth innovation and college admissions. Every month, we share our round-up of the most important ones. This month highlights the importance of social-emotional wellness during COVID and lessons on learning entrepreneurship. We hope you enjoy them!

Opinion: International Students, Please Don’t Stay Up Late for School 1000 652 Guest

Opinion: International Students, Please Don’t Stay Up Late for School

This is a guest post written by our coach, Grace Chiang. It’s no question COVID-19 has massively disrupted the education…

The Spike Lab Sees Record Interest From High Schoolers To Learn Entrepreneurship During The Pandemic 1200 358 Jennifer Eident

The Spike Lab Sees Record Interest From High Schoolers To Learn Entrepreneurship During The Pandemic

This is an except from our press release published on multiple sites including Yahoo Finance, Market Watch and AP News.…

Spike Stories: Felicia’s Free Tutoring Program 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Spike Stories: Felicia’s Free Tutoring Program

In this post, we share Buddy Tutoring, the awesome Spike that Felicia launched to help connect students with free tutoring.

Looking back on the 2020 TSL Coach Summit 750 1000 Theo Wolf

Looking back on the 2020 TSL Coach Summit

Back before the coronavirus pandemic had swept the US, a small group of our team members and coaches gathered together in upstate New York for our Annual Coach Summit. We reflect on it in this post.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Steven Eno 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Steven Eno

In this post, you’ll meet Steven Eno, a former teacher and engineer who has built multiple successful STEM and innovation programs at high schools.

August Recommended Readings 550 584 Jennifer Eident

August Recommended Readings

August 2020 recommended stories on youth innovation and college admissions.

"Asian Glow" Hoodie
Spike Stories: Vanessa’s Fashion Fundraiser against Racism 1014 882 Jennifer Eident

Spike Stories: Vanessa’s Fashion Fundraiser against Racism

Launched recently, Vanessa’s Wear No Hate fundraiser will donate all proceeds to charities serving Asian communities impacted by COVID and Black Table Arts, a non profit improving African American student outcomes through art.

Spike Stories: Allison and Populearn 1280 721 Theo Wolf

Spike Stories: Allison and Populearn

Meet Allison, one of our former students who launched an awesome Spike to help students learn Chinese history.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Ines Gramenga 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Ines Gramenga

In this post you’ll meet Ines Gramenga, a LSE and Stanford GSB alum and an experienced consultant and entrepreneur.

Spike Stories: Xanthe’s Songs Against Silence 1220 1000 Jennifer Eident

Spike Stories: Xanthe’s Songs Against Silence

Learn more about “Songs Against Silence’s” global art competition and how you can contribute by submitting a song by July 21st

Coach Profiles: Introducing Anna Neverova 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Anna Neverova

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you.

Spike Stories: Yani’s Green Gym 716 398 Theo Wolf

Spike Stories: Yani’s Green Gym

Yani is one of our former Spike students — now at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. As you…

This Summer Is the Perfect Time to Launch a Spike 538 476 Lloyd Nimetz

This Summer Is the Perfect Time to Launch a Spike

If you’re laboring away trying to figure out what to do this summer, labor no more; build a Spike. It’s the most fun, developmentally challenging and rewarding way for teens to spend their summer AND it’s pandemic proof!

Coach Profiles: Introducing Spencer Whale 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Spencer Whale

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Spencer Whale, a NYC theater director, inventor, and Cornell alum.

Empathy Interviewing: How to do It and Why it Matters 1000 795 Guest

Empathy Interviewing: How to do It and Why it Matters

Empathy interviewing is a valuable skill for anyone in the early stages of an ambitious project. In this post, our coach Sara DuPont breaks down best practices for empathy interviewing.

Mindful Practices for Navigating Coronavirus 150 150 Guest

Mindful Practices for Navigating Coronavirus

This is a guest post by our coach, Jane Marie Chen, the original post can be found on her website…

February Recommended Readings 1133 459 Theo Wolf

February Recommended Readings

In our work as coaches to high school superstars, we come across important stories on youth innovation and college admissions.…

Coach Profiles: Introducing Sara DuPont 750 800 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Sara DuPont

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Sarah DuPont, an experienced educational entrepreneur and Williams and BU MBA alum.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Justin Gupta 734 734 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Justin Gupta

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Justin Gupta, a Georgetown alum and experienced social entrepreneur who has consulted with a number of prominent education and tech companies.

Students Should Stop Incorporating Nonprofits 1000 877 Lloyd Nimetz

Students Should Stop Incorporating Nonprofits

If you’re young and starting a new social venture, don’t make the common mistake of registering as a nonprofit too early. This article outlines three other options you should consider first: staying informal, organizational sponsorship and fiscal sponsorship.

Four Highly Influential Teenage Spikes 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Four Highly Influential Teenage Spikes

We often get asked “what does a good Spike look like?” The best way to answer that question is by pointing to specific examples. Here are four famous, world-changing spikes that were started by high school students.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Nathaniel Toppelberg 1020 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Nathaniel Toppelberg

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Nathaniel Toppelberg, a Yale alum who has launched multiple education companies.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Ayna Agarwal 1000 1000 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Ayna Agarwal

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Ayna Agarwal, a Stanford alum and Harvard HBS Class of 2020 student with years of experience in tech and policy.

2019 Spike of the Year — Greta Thunberg: Fridays for Future Movement 750 1000 Lloyd Nimetz

2019 Spike of the Year — Greta Thunberg: Fridays for Future Movement

Greta Thunberg won the Time Person of the Year with her Spike, the Fridays for Future Movement. We’d like to recognize her with our own distinction: The Spike of the Year.

How We Hire Our Unicorn Coaches 1000 827 Lloyd Nimetz

How We Hire Our Unicorn Coaches

At a 2.5% hire rate, it’s harder to become a coach at The Spike Lab than it is to get into Harvard. This article gives you an inside look at what we look for in our coaches and the interview process we’ve designed to make these difficult decisions.

Coach Profiles: Introducing Uchechi Kalu 535 535 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Uchechi Kalu

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Uchechi Kalu, a Princeton alum and talented writer with experience in college admissions and starting companies internationally.

See us quoted in US News & World Report! 1280 313 Theo Wolf

See us quoted in US News & World Report!

Our founder, Lloyd, was quoted in a recent article in US News & World Report about some of the biggest…

Startup Boot Camp and Pitch Competition in Beijing! 1280 928 Katherine

Startup Boot Camp and Pitch Competition in Beijing!

  RSVP now!: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/CrSvstyYq2MT02oMw66wYw

Coach Profiles: Introducing Grace Chiang 1280 853 Theo Wolf

Coach Profiles: Introducing Grace Chiang

At The Spike Lab we work tirelessly to build a team of world-class coaches. This is part of a series of blogs introducing them to you. In this post, you’ll meet Grace Chiang, a Yale alum and Stanford MBA with experience in venture-backed startups and at McKinsey.

The Spike Lab at New York EdTech Meetup 1280 960 Theo Wolf

The Spike Lab at New York EdTech Meetup

Last week, our founder Lloyd had the pleasure of speaking on a panel at the New York EdTech Meetup, the…

The 14 Critical Innovation Skills Kids Aren’t Learning in High School 1280 384 Lloyd Nimetz

The 14 Critical Innovation Skills Kids Aren’t Learning in High School

This blog post outlines the most important competencies that high schoolers need to be developing to be prepared for the innovation economy. The primary categories include Initiative, Creativity, Planning and Communication.

The Future is Why 1280 384 Larry Liu

The Future is Why

In a world of rapidly increasing change, it’s no longer sufficient for students to learn hard skills and facts — the ‘what’. To thrive in this new environment, they need to develop purpose — a ‘why’. This blog post explains why purpose is so important for today’s youth and provides some guidance for how you can develop your own ‘why’.

The New York City Young Entrepreneurs Meetup 800 600 Theo Wolf

The New York City Young Entrepreneurs Meetup

In partnership with several of New York City’s top private schools, who are all leaders in entrepreneurship education, we hosted a New York City young entrepreneurs meetup for high school students at Spotify’s US Headquarters. See pictures from the event inside.

Teaching at the Frontier: Innovation at Dwight School 1280 960 Larry Liu

Teaching at the Frontier: Innovation at Dwight School

We ran several innovation programs with Dwight School in New York, and faculty from four different Dwight campuses around the world. Learn more about our takeaways here.

The Spike Lab Expands to Hong Kong 1280 816 Lloyd Nimetz

The Spike Lab Expands to Hong Kong

We’ve expanded to Hong Kong! Learn more about what that means here.

Spike Stories: Meet Philip Kuo 800 240 Lloyd Nimetz

Spike Stories: Meet Philip Kuo

This is article is part of our series featuring the Spikes of Taiwanese students who got accepted into top US colleges. We hope these stories help exemplify the little known yet courageous stories of hard work and achievement, starting with Philip Kuo — a freshman who got accepted at the #6 undergraduate engineering program in the US.

Spike Stories: Meet Jessica Cheng 800 401 Larry Liu

Spike Stories: Meet Jessica Cheng

In this installment of our Spike Stories series we look at Jessica (Johns Hopkins, ’22) who created an initiative to help kids with microtia.

How We Define Great Spike Coaching 800 240 Lloyd Nimetz

How We Define Great Spike Coaching

What does great coaching or teaching look like? There is no one answer to this age-old question, but this article reveals how we evaluate the quality of all our coaches!

Catching up with Johnny after MIT Launch 1080 720 Larry Liu

Catching up with Johnny after MIT Launch

In this post we check in with Johnny, who at the time had recently returned from participating in MIT’s Launch Program. Talking to Larry, Johnny shares about his experience at Launch, how he got accepted, and gives an update on his journey so far toward college.

The Case For Spike Coaching 800 524 Lloyd Nimetz

The Case For Spike Coaching

A Spike is a unique and impressive achievement that showcases your passion and helps you stand out to college admissions. But why does The Spike Lab’s college counseling program focus so heavily on Spike coaching when other college counselors don’t? Learn about why we believe so strongly in having an amazing Spike and why it’s worth the time and investment.

How To Pick Your Spike 800 272 Larry Liu

How To Pick Your Spike

Not all achievements are impressive, and some Spikes are better than others. The question then becomes: “what makes something impressive to U.S. colleges?” In this post, we’ll give you a glimpse into our own coaching process, and the questions we have students answer in order to determine if their Spike is worth pursuing.

What’s Your Passion? 800 605 Larry Liu

What’s Your Passion?

When it comes to developing a deep achievement Spike, passion is an essential ingredient. But for most students, discovering passion is no easy task. Like most students, you probably have too many interests and even deciding on a place to start is a challenge.

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