Cohort 3 began in 2008, two years after Cohort 2 was launched. This allowed YPI time to evaluate the first two cohorts and make improvements. One key change was to only accept students that were going into their freshman or sophomore year so that students would be able to stay in the program for all three years of YPI. Another adjustment is that the co-facilitator is an actual graduate of Cohort 1. YPI has also integrated the use of an online project management program to facilitate forward progress in between monthly meetings.


Cohort 3 identified the issue of Media’s Influence on Teens’ Self-Perceptions. Today’s teens are currently the most researched and heavily targeted consumer groups in human history and the students felt that there are many emerging issues that stem from that. Now in their second year, students of Cohort 3 have formulated an ambitious and robust strategic plan that they are currently implementing.

One of the distinguishing features of this cohort is that they are truly student-led. YPI has always sought to have the program be run by students and by the third year of cohorts 1 and 2 this was largely the case. Cohort 3 represents a true advancement in this direction because they are a student-run program as of the first months of the second year.