Beyond 12 is a finalist in the Robin Hood Foundation $5 million College Success Prize!
We are thrilled to announce that Beyond 12 is a finalist in the Robin Hood Foundation $5 million College Success Prize. The prize is a competition to find scalable technology solutions to help community college students stay on track to a timely graduation. Over 100 teams from all over the world, representing large, public companies as well as startups and academia, applied. Beyond 12 was one of 18 semi-finalists selected to pitch our product to a group of expert judges on Friday, January 30th, and we are so pleased that our myCoach app is one of three products selected to enter the final round!
From helping to answer big-picture questions like, “why should I stick with this?” to addressing the finest details like, “when should I renew my FAFSA?”, the myCoach mobile app helps students keep track of key deadlines and provides them with personalized tools to navigate their higher education experience. We have translated the best of our high-touch coaching model into a highly scalable digital tool. Moreover, the app is connected to a student information system on the back-end that provides rich insights to K12 and higher education administrators to help them better prepare and support their students for college success.
Over the past few months, we have worked hand-in-hand with human-centered design firm IDEO, leading nudging and badging experts, Lindsay Page and Samuel Abramovich, as well as branding and development firm, Driver8, to conceptualize, design, and build the app. At the heart of all of our efforts, however, are our students. We brainstormed and co-designed with them in workshops and listened to their stories in one-on-one interviews. This app is a direct product of their voices and needs. We are honored to now partner with CUNY, Robin Hood, and ideas42 to rigorously test our approach.
As always, none of this work would be possible without the support of our community – our staff, board, funders, K12 and higher education clients, supporters, and, most importantly, the students we serve. Thank you!