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rite passage.
A cultural movement for youth.
rite passage supports youth and their communities in creating a rite of passage experience for adolescents to support and celebrate their intrinsic character development.
The Problems
Secular western culture is largely void of rites of passage or meaningful celebrations of youth’s intrinsic character development.
Youth have expressed a critical need for education around how to healthily engage with social technologies and integrate these interactions to facilitate their real-world social connections.
The rite passage experience at Post-Internet Project aims to teach youth healthy patterns of behavior around engaging with the internet and social technologies to discover and utilize content of meaning and personal utility. Youth cannot develop these patterns without transferable skills around agency, self-awareness, emotional regulation, and a deep understanding of the structure, function, and quality of relationships in their lives–skills that will remain relevant and beneficial as technology continues to rapidly evolve.
rite passage is a transformative, evidence-based, gamified experience that supports youth and their communities in creating a rite of passage experience for adolescents and promotes the support and celebration of their intrinsic character development as they learn how to healthily engage with social technologies and integrate those interactions into their real-world social connections.
Our Solution
Our Unique Approach
Features:
Designed for youth, by youth
Flexible structure (i.e. a choose your own adventure) that can be easily integrated with specific community partner needs
Community partners (summer camps, after school programs, youth organizations) provide cohorts for the 3-6-week rite passage experience from within their existing structures
Small groups (4-5) are created within cohorts based on shared values, common interests, and socioeconomic diversity, a structure that fosters the development of intimacy, trust, and empathy
Peer-to-peer influence where participants from each cohort can become mentors, design activities, or create art that fuels the next generation of the rite passage experience and creates a self-sustaining movement with an empathetic approach
A culture of joy, celebration, and meaning that is largely missing in the conversation around the dangers and harms of social technologies, which cultivates youth belonging and well-being so they may thrive in a world full of “bad news”
Spanning over a period of 3-6 weeks and within a supportive cohort setting, participants engage in a structured journey mirroring traditional rites of passage, consisting of three key stages:
Participants complete gamified activities independently to develop transferable skills related to self-reflection, emotional regulation, and personal agency
Youth discover their personal strengths and values-orientation through gamified activities
Small groups are formed from (i) initial participant surveys around values and common interests and (ii) scholarship eligibility data.
Community mentors are chosen by youth at the end of this phase
I. Independence
Participants are then “challenged” to apply these skills to new contexts: i) cultivating social connection with their group, mentors, and community and ii) consuming media through social technologies iii) discovering and defining healthy boundaries
Youth collaborate with their group to create their unique rite passage celebration
II. Transition & Challenge
Participants share their experience in rite passage with their cohort community, peers, and mentors at a celebration they have invested weeks into collaboratively creating
Celebrations are funded by community partners, investors, and granting organizations to ensure accessibility
III. Celebration & Integration
Cultivating skills around
Relational Intelligence • Emotional Regulation • Embodiment • Mindfulness • Perspective • Boundaries • Tolerance • Resilience •
Relational Intelligence • Emotional Regulation • Embodiment • Mindfulness • Perspective • Boundaries • Tolerance • Resilience •
with education on