ONWARD COGNITA LATAM 2026

BUILD · CREATE · LEAD

10 weeks of live mentoring with Harvard students. Build real projects in Leadership, STEM, or Entrepreneurship. 3 tiers from online to Harvard campus.

Program at a Glance

DURATION

10 Weeks

2-hour live Zoom sessions every Saturday

SUMMIT CITIES

Santiago & Bogotá

5-day in-person summit (Summit & Harvard tiers)

ELIGIBILITY

Grades 6–12

Cognita students across Latin America

SESSION LENGTH

2 Hours

Live interactive Zoom each Saturday

INVESTMENT

From USD 749

3 tiers: Online, Summit, Harvard

TRUSTED PARTNERS

- The Onward Fellowship

Four Pillars of the Program

Harvard student mentors

Small-group guidance from Harvard student mentors across every session.

Real Project Build

Students create tangible portfolio projects - apps, research, pitches - not hypotheticals.

Santiago & Bogotá Stages

5-day in-person summits where students present on stage to judges.

Global Competitions

Post-program support to submit projects to real international competitions.

The 3-Phase Transformation

From first idea to stage-ready in 10 weeks

Discover & Build

Live Zoom every Saturday • 6 sessions • 2 hours each

The Proving Ground

5 days in Santiago or Bogotá. In-person. On stage.

Launch & Compete

Competition prep + pitch mastery

3 Pathways to Excellence

Each pathway is mentored by Harvard students and produces portfolio-ready projects.

Global Leadership & Passion Project

Think like a world leader. Build your legacy.

Develop diplomacy, public speaking, and crisis leadership skills through simulations and passion project mentorship with Harvard student leaders.

Students who aspire to lead, love debate, or dream of making a global impact

STEM Innovation

Engineer solutions that matter

Tackle real-world problems using the engineering design process. Mentored by Harvard STEM students.

Students who ask 'how does this work?' and love building things

AI & Entrepreneurship

Turn ideas into real products

Build a real product using AI-powered vibe coding tools and present it to a judging panel.

Students who tinker with apps, dream up businesses, or love solving problems

WEEK-BY-WEEK CURRICULUM

What You'll Build in 10 Weeks

Choose your pathway to see the weekly breakdown

Build Something Impossible

Track 1: AI Speechwriter - draft, refine & deliver a 60-second speech on a cause you care about

Track 2: Campaign Builder - use Canva AI to design a full advocacy campaign for a global issue

Track 3: Crisis Simulator - simulate a UN crisis scenario where you negotiate as a world leader

60-second live demo presentation to the group

The World's Hardest Negotiation

Water crisis negotiation simulation (teams represent countries)

Alliance-building and back-channel diplomacy

Draft a peace resolution under time pressure

Debrief: what strategies worked?

Speak Like a World Leader

Analyse 3 famous speeches (structure, not content)

Write a 2-minute leadership speech on your cause

Rehearse with mentor coaching (pacing, pauses, eye contact)

Peer feedback rounds

Your Passion Project Lab

Identify a real problem in your community or the world

Design a Passion Project blueprint (mission, audience, first 3 steps)

Create a visual one-pager using Canva AI

Mentor one-on-one project reviews

Full Crisis Summit Simulation

Full-scale Model UN crisis simulation (90 minutes)

Media pressure, alliance shifts, resolution drafting

Final speech rehearsal with mentor coaching

Peer judging dry run

Global Summit Rehearsal