Built to help teens grow more capable, in the years that shape who they become.
Understanding your teen is where it starts. What matters is what you do with that understanding. The capabilities a young person builds in the early teen years, how they plan, focus, recover from setbacks, relate to others, and see themselves, shape the adult they become, and the research is unusually clear that these are the years when those capabilities take form. Yet most families navigate them alone, and most support arrives late and aimed narrowly at grades or admissions. Elevated Students exists to change that. We give families a deep, holistic read of their teen and practical ways to act on it, on their own or with a coach, so a teenager does not just get through these years but grows more capable because of them.
Understanding is the foundation. Development is the point.
The people building Elevated Students.
Tom Carhart
Tom spent years studying what makes people effective leaders and communicators, and how deeply understanding someone changes what you can do for them. When his sister Frances, a veteran independent college advisor, described how long it takes to understand a student well enough to actually help them grow, he saw a larger opportunity. Understanding a teen is only the start. The real prize is using it to help them build the capabilities that last, the planning, focus, and self-trust that shape the adult they become. Elevated Students is his answer: giving families that understanding, and the practical means to develop it, on their own or with a coach, in the years research shows are so formative.
Alan MacLeod
Alan and Tom have worked together before on people development, where Alan's focus was always on making complex ideas accessible and the experience of using them exceptional. That same instinct drives Elevated Students: a parent should come away not just understanding their teen but knowing how to help them grow, with the next step made obvious. His wife's work in educational consulting gives him a close view of how much families are navigating on their own, and what would actually move things forward for them.
Eric Miller
Eric has spent 25 years as an entrepreneur and technology leader, founding and scaling his own software firm and building systems that hold up under real-world conditions across enterprise and SaaS environments. He brings a builder's instinct to Elevated Students: architecture that is solid, scalable, and designed to do exactly what it promises. What draws him to this problem is what draws him to every hard one, turning something genuinely complex, understanding a teenager and helping them grow, into something that works simply and reliably for every family.
Buzz Krishnan
Buzz has spent his career in environments where the experience has to work right, from logic design software for emergency dispatch systems, where there is no margin for confusion, to leading customer success teams for one of the country's largest retailers. He also codes, so when something isn't working for a family, he can often fix it directly rather than manage it from a distance. At Elevated Students, his job is to make sure every parent gets to real insight quickly, knows the next step to help their teen grow, and feels supported the whole way.
Guided by educators who know these years.
Both of our advisors began as teachers and have spent their careers helping teenagers grow, through college admissions and well beyond. They keep everything we build grounded in how students actually develop.
Frances Carhart
Frances is a former teacher, veteran educator, and independent college advisor who helps students build the specific habits and skills that matter for college and for life beyond it. She guides students through the full college planning and application process and keeps parents aligned and informed along the way. Over the last two decades she has worked with thousands of students. At Elevated Students, Frances helps keep our portraits and guidance true to how teens actually develop, which is the value she has wanted families to have earlier all along.
Cyndy McDonald
Cyndy McDonald is an innovator and trendsetter in college counseling and a longtime educator. She is the founder of the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) and an active member of several other professional organizations. Cyndy created online courses for UCLA's College Counseling Certificate program and has taught hundreds of college advisors enrolled in it. She has started several businesses in education and technology and coaches advisors and founders today. She advises Elevated Students because the developmental work that shapes who a young person becomes belongs earlier than college, in exactly the years Elevated is built for.
See your teen clearly. Start with what matters most.
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