Portals to Infinity: A Mythic World-Building Curriculum for Adolescent Identity Development and Systems Thinking
A 10-Week Online Journey for Teen Girls (Ages 13–17)
Core Question
What if creating a world became a way of discovering yourself?
Fridays | September 18 – November 20, 11 AM - 12:30 PM EST
"Every world begins with an idea. Every civilization begins with a value. Every future begins with someone willing to imagine it."
Course Philosophy
Portals to Infinity is more than a creative world-building experience. It is a guided rite of passage that invites adolescent girls into one of life's most important developmental questions:
Who am I becoming, and what kind of world do I want to help create?
Rather than asking participants to define themselves directly, the curriculum offers a symbolic and imaginative path of exploration. Through designing civilizations, cultures, stories, and systems, each girl gradually uncovers her own values, strengths, questions, and unique way of contributing to the world.
Every aspect of her world becomes a mirror.
The way conflict is resolved reflects her understanding of relationships.
The way her people care for the Earth reflects her own relationship with nature.
The products her civilization creates reveal what she believes is valuable and worth sharing.
As the girls gather weekly in Council Circle, they witness that every world is unique, yet each contributes something essential to the whole. Through collaboration, reflection, and creativity, they discover that healthy communities are built not through sameness, but through honoring individual gifts in service of something larger.
Ultimately, Portals to Infinity is an invitation for young women to see themselves not simply as learners or consumers of knowledge, but as thoughtful creators, compassionate leaders, and contributors to the future.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the semester, participants will have strengthened:
Creative confidence
Systems thinking
Emotional intelligence
Communication
Collaboration
Leadership
Reflective writing
Artistic expression
Ecological awareness
Project design
Semester Overview
Each week follows a simple rhythm:
Arrival & Council Circle
Mythic Story or Guiding Question
Creative Design Studio
Council Sharing
Weekly Quest
Between sessions, the girls continue developing their worlds through journaling, art, observation, and making.
Week One
The Portal Opens
Theme
The Creator
Essential Question
Who am I becoming?
We begin by exploring strengths, values, curiosity, and imagination.
Create:
Personal sigil
Creator's journal
Personal manifesto
Beginning vision board
Reflection:
What gifts do I already carry into the world?
Weekly Quest:
Notice moments during the week when you create, inspire, solve, or care for something.
Week Two
A World is Born
Essential Question
If your inner world became an outer landscape, what would it look like?
Create:
World name
Geography
Atmosphere
Symbol
Purpose
Reflection:
What does your world protect?
What kind of beauty lives there?
Week Three
The Heart of a Civilization
Essential Question
What values allow people to flourish?
Create:
Culture
Traditions
Celebrations
Daily life
Ways people care for one another
Reflection:
What kind of community do you long to belong to?
Week Four
Living with Nature
Essential Question
How do we belong to the Earth?
Create:
Food systems
Gardens
Homes
Animals
Seasons
Stewardship practices
Nature Observation:
Spend time outside and notice one system in nature that your world could learn from.
Week Five
Gifts, Creativity & Contribution
Essential Question
What unique gift does your world offer others?
This becomes the turning point of the semester.
Each girl designs a meaningful product, service, or creative offering that naturally arises from her world's identity.
Possibilities include:
herbal tea
botanical body oil
flower essence
handcrafted journal
poem collection
artwork
candles
recipes
music
ceremonial object
natural skin care
seed collection
oracle cards
Reflection:
How does creativity become contribution?
How can beauty become service?
Week Six
Leadership & Relationship
Essential Question
How do healthy communities make decisions?
Create:
Council structure
Leadership style
Conflict transformation
Shared agreements
Reflection:
What kind of leader do you admire?
Week Seven
Challenge & Transformation
Essential Question
What helps people grow through difficulty?
Every civilization experiences challenge.
Create:
A current challenge
Obstacles
Helpers
Rituals of healing
Practices of resilience
Reflection:
What has life already taught you about perseverance?
Week Eight
Wisdom Keepers
Essential Question
How is wisdom remembered and passed on?
Create:
Origin story
Elders
Rites of passage
Symbols
Songs
Poetry
Sacred places
Reflection:
What wisdom do you hope future generations remember?
Week Nine
Council of Worlds
Essential Question
How do unique worlds strengthen one another?
The girls begin connecting their civilizations.
Together they:
share resources
solve a collective challenge
create alliances
celebrate differences
Reflection:
What do I appreciate most about someone else's world?
Week Ten
Becoming
Council of Worlds
Each participant presents:
her civilization
its values
its product or offering
its greatest lesson
how she has changed throughout the journey
The gathering closes with a blessing and a shared reflection on the question:
What kind of world do I now feel called to help create?
Adolescence is one of the most significant seasons of human development. It is a time when young people begin asking deeper questions about identity, belonging, purpose, and their place in the world. Rather than offering answers, Portals to Infinity provides a symbolic and creative framework through which these questions can be explored. By designing worlds, participants discover that every choice they make reflects their own emerging values, hopes, and understanding of community.
At its heart, this project explores the possibility that world-building can serve as a contemporary rite of passage—an educational experience that honors the sacred season of adolescence by inviting young women to imagine the kind of world they long to live in while recognizing that they already possess unique gifts to help create it.