KHeystone Projects
KHeystone Projects are year-long, scholar-led collaborations aimed at addressing important regional or global issues. Each autumn quarter, any interested scholar can pitch an idea for a KHeystone Project at the annual Ideas Festival; scholars then form multidisciplinary project teams—sometimes aligned to their field of study, sometimes completely different.
Throughout the year, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS) team supports scholars with coaching, funding and mentors, and provides workshops to help teams develop their ideas. KHeystone Projects may continue for multiple years, and some develop into for profit or nonprofit ventures. Projects have addressed issues such as education inequity, climate change, health care access, economic development, and much more.
The Open Middle Grade + Young Adult (OMG-YA) Khollective is a collaborative project to rethink the future of publishing for young readers.
A novel venture studio model to spin out healthcare ideas internationally.
Connecting interested youth with opportunities to learn more about and engage in public service at state, local, and federal levels.
Impact of KHeystone Projects
Since the inception of KHeystone Projects in 2020, scholars have collectively launched more than 50 projects, with nine of those continuing beyond the first year. Nearly all scholars participate in at least one project, with many joining multiple teams.
Examples of KHeystone Projects within Stanford
Stanford Housing Equity Project (2022-present): Established as part of Stanford, this student-led initiative connects the resources of universities to community partners in the Bay Area, empowering them to develop programs that advance housing and health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Stanford Native American Graduate Students (SNAGS) (2022-present): Now part of the Stanford Native American Cultural Center, SNAGS supports Native graduate student wellness with facilitated, indigenized, mental health resourcing, community events, and policy advocacy at Stanford.
Through Their Eyes: Documenting Children's Experiences with Illness (2021-present): This project taps into the healing and storytelling power of photography. Scholars partner with pediatric patients and their families at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, working with them to document anything important to them about their experiences. A selection of these photos were installed at the children’s hospital.
Companies and nonprofits that started as KHeystone Projects
For a number of scholars, the time, space, teamwork and support provided by KHS through KHeystone Projects has helped serve as the incubator for an organization with a life beyond Stanford. Examples include:
Education Justice Academy: Public school board members oversee a large portfolio of responsibility but often lack necessary training. Education Justice Academy (EJA) recruits, trains, and supports school board members to increase educational justice and equity at the district level. Founder Briana Mullen (2020 cohort) is now a Stanford alumni, leading EJA with support from her Global Impact Grant.
Myna: The Myna Mahila Foundation was launched prior to KHS and nurtured as a KHeystone Project. Today Myna is a social enterprise serving millions of women in India by offering products and services to increase women’s agency and decision making power to make them more confident, financially independent and healthy.
Skywalk: Inspired by Iron Man, Star Wars, and their boundless imagination, scholars wanted to bring together exosuits, prosthetics, sensors and augmented reality to create super intuitive prosthetics. Their vision is a reality today in an early-stage company building a wearable interface for AI — the next generation of human computer interaction.