We’re unveiling Student Stories, a new, AI-powered feature that captures and celebrates the most meaningful outcomes of Curious Cardinals mentorship. Think of it as a living, dynamic student resume. A way for students (and their families) to clearly see the “why” behind the work, and the full narrative of their progress.
Here’s a sneak peek: From Sneakers to Sports Cards: How a 9th Grader Built a Thriving Resale Business
About Student Stories: What they are, and why we built this feature
Over the years, we’ve seen countless incredible transformations – students building, dreaming, upskilling, creating, and growing as people. But, like the diary you stopped writing in three months into your journaling “phase”, sometimes it’s not easy for students to see clearly what they’re accomplishing, or how today’s work compounds into next year’s success.
You know that feeling when you uncover an old journal entry or a drawing you created as a kid? The spark it ignites in you, reminding you of how far you’ve come, who you were and who you wanted to be. But what if it wasn’t a static object that held your progress? What if it was a living, concise record of who you were and who you were becoming?
That’s what Student Stories are – a dynamic way for students to reflect on their growth, visualize their progress, and share the tangible results of their mentorship.
We created Student Stories to be an active, clear narrative, tracking students’ growth in real time. With Student Stories, students can see exactly what they’ve done and how it all connects to their deeper “why”. Parents can see with unprecedented clarity what their student is accomplishing, including significant milestones and relevant artifacts like work-in-progress designs.
Our platform distills each journey into:
- Inflection points: Key moments where growth happened
- Milestones: Concrete achievements and outcomes
- Narrative clarity: A clear story they can tell—whether for college apps, interviews, or personal growth
In short, it’s where data meets story. Not just what they did, but why it mattered. Because in a world reshaped by AI, clearly articulating your value – what you’ve built, who you are, and what you bring – is a crucial and invaluable skill.
How Student Stories work
We’ve combined proprietary and AI-powered tech to make Student Stories possible. Here’s how the Student Story sausage is made:
- The CC Notetaker records each session and creates transcripts
- Every 4 sessions, Milestones are created based on those transcripts; Milestones are:
- Achievement-focused summaries that showcase concrete progress
- Higher-level abstractions that highlight patterns of growth across sessions, and
- Resume-quality accomplishments that demonstrate the value the mentorship
- Mentors upload Artifacts – tangible evidence of a student's work and progress throughout the engagement, encompassing works-in-progress (notes, outlines, drafts, diagrams, sketches, planning documents, practice problems, screenshots), and project deliverables that showcase completed work.
- Like a living resume, the student’s Student Story is automatically updated with new Milestones and Artifacts over time + plus insights and summaries which demonstrate their growth and achievements.
- The Student Story becomes a complete, historical record of the mentorship and can function as a portfolio in many cases.
Tbh…If the Egyptians had tech like this, we’d never have to guess how they built the pyramids!
What’s next?
At Curious Cardinals, rolling out a new AI-powered feature like Student Stories isn’t just innovation for the sake of innovation; it's purposeful, full of intention, and always aimed at enhancing human connection and learning, not replacing it.
Our North Star now is the same as when we started – making personalized, near-peer mentorship possible for all. Each feature of our mentoring platform – from Easy Scheduling and CC Notetaker, to the newest addition, Student Stories – is meticulously crafted to build an unmatched learning environment where students feel connected, seen, and empowered while gaining tangible outcomes.
Stories of student success and growth – be they digital, shared around a dinner table, over a Zoom call, or through a text message – are our favorite thing in the world. They motivate us to keep going, to keep building, to keep striving toward our North Star.
We love watching students grow, we love mentor-mentee bonds, and we love hearing excited parents recount the transformation they’ve witnessed in their child. (Seriously, you should see our celebratory Slack channel.)
At its core, Student Stories is the manifestation of our enduring obsession with capturing and sharing these beautiful student stories. It’s a deeply personal and long-awaited feature, and we can’t wait to share with you. 💛
With gratitude and curiosity,
The Curious Cardinals Team