Purpose Project Framework

Andra completely changed my life. Her knowledge, guidance, and experience opened doors to opportunities I never would have considered. I often credit Andra as one of the most influential mentors in my life — she is the person who inspired me to start NeuroSphere. Through the Project Connect Forum, I was able to transform what began as a passion project into a true purpose project. With strategic promotion and clear direction, my community grew significantly, and NeuroSphere’s resources and opportunities finally reached the audience they were intended for. Nearly half of my following now comes directly from the Project Connect Forum, which has become a trusted strategy and resource I consistently rely on to launch and promote new initiatives. The results have been consistently outstanding and well worth the investment. One concrete outcome I am most proud of is building our research program and growing NeuroSphere to over 6,000 members in just one year. Seeing this impact reach not only my own community but students around the world still brings me to tears.

After receiving counseling from Andra I learned about the different leadership roles I could offer and ways I could promote my project to get other high schoolers involved. She introduced the idea of creating chapters and explained how this model could be promoted through social media while offering Chapter President roles to student leaders. This made it much easier to gain volunteers. I also learned about fiscal sponsorships as an easier way to receive funding through donations by operating under a 501(c)(3). Hearing about her experiences also boosted my confidence and overall set me up to achieve my goals.

Andra’s advice and videos were super helpful in reframing my mindset on creating a student led initiative. A lot of the videos touched on creating a cohesive narrative which I genuinely think helped me so much in getting into Harvard this year. My project was the core of the values I tried to demonstrate in my application including empathy and connecting with others with different shared experiences through the conversations I have in leading art workshops. I recently received an email from my admissions officer saying that she and the admissions committee was impressed by me cofounding LEAP which goes to show how far starting an initiative yourself can help in college admissions. But more than that, creating this project alongside a dedicated team has taught me so many life skills that I wouldn’t trade for anything else. Andra’s videos really showed the importance of having this purpose project that serves as the core of your application and I truly think that helped me so much in admissions and growing as a person!

After receiving advice from Andra I knew exactly what I had to do to make my project a reality and furthermore a successful one. She gave me a lot of helpful pointers as well as recommended me resources that significantly helped me jumpstart my process. I was confident that with her experience, her advice would lead me in the right direction, and I now have a successful project that turned out to be beyond what I could have ever expected.