Betty Ray

After a decade at the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Betty Ray was plagued by a question: Why are young people suffering with depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide at such soaring rates?

At Teachers College, Columbia University - Betty landed on rites of passage as a long-forgotten approach to preparing young people for life in an uncertain future. This year she wants to design and create a set of modern rites of passage so all youth feel grounded and supported through the turbulent challenges of adolescence