What is Argonaut?

Adolescents thrive on belonging, challenge, and adventure.

We all need a group of trusted friends. We all need a safe space to speak honestly and listen deeply, where we can process what matters most to us. In adolescence we need this most of all, as our lives can change dramatically almost from day to day.

Argonaut, founded by Chris Balme, creates this safe space, with skilled facilitators leading small groups of students. It’s first about building trust and connection. We learn social-emotional tools each week, connecting them to the relevant experiences in our own lives. Then we get to go on adventures together: personal challenges drawn from the Essential Experiences Project, an ever-growing list of formative experiences that develop young people’s wisdom, kindness, and real-world skills.

The heart of a good journey through adolescence is a trusted group of peers on a shared adventure.

— Chris Balme

  • What does an Argonaut session look like?

    • 6-10 middle schoolers.

    • Led by a skilled adult facilitator.

    • Meeting on Zoom for two weekly sessions (1 hour each).

    • In each session, we explore a social-emotional topic from our Diving Boards curriculum. This may include an activity, but it always includes personal sharing and fascinating discussions!

    • Students learn and practice group norms vital for safe and brave sharing.

    • We usually end the session with a fun and connective game! (This is a crucial decompression time to ready the students to re-enter the real world!)

  • What is Social-Emotional Learning?

    Social-Emotional Learning, or SEL, includes the skills to understand and manage our inner lives — handling emotions, exploring our identity, setting goals and more — plus the skills to create and sustain positive relationships with others.

    At Argonaut we’ve been building our own social-emotional curriculum, called Diving Boards, based on adolescent psychology and neuroscience. The curriculum covers topics from Body Image to Personality, Self-Compassion to Boundary-Setting, and many more.

    Over the past 20 years, research has shown SEL to be of paramount importance to student and adult success, whether measured traditionally in terms of grades and eventual career success or measured in terms of happiness. It’s clear that pure IQ is not enough: we need to be able to manage our inner world and relate well to others in order to make a good life.

    We believe that SEL is taught best through groups, tapping into adolescents’ strong drive for peer connection, with facilitators who can both model these skills and teach them through experience.

  • What are the Essential Experiences?

    The Essential Experiences are a set of challenges which help adolescents find and develop their best selves.

    They fall into five categories: Independence, Connection, Healthy Body & Mind, Waking Up, and Making the World Better. See more here.

    Argonaut students will be asked to complete multiple experiences outside of Argonaut sessions, building their confidence, awareness, kindness and capabilities.

    They might Serve a Good Meal, Teach a Complex Skill or Connect With Your Lineage — these are 3 of the initial set of 50 experiences available to explore.