This project is structured according to the three movements of the labyrinth: entering in, arriving and receiving counsel at the center, and returning. Other topics include a thorough treatment of the stressors of the college application landscape, an assessment of the revival of popularity of the labyrinth from 1991 to present, a consideration of pilgrimage and its connection to the labyrinth experience, and an exploration of kinesthetic centering. While the path may prompt us to perambulate, the object is always a shedding of the superficial toward a deeper understanding of self.

Applying Victor and Edith Turners' research on pilgrimage, in particular the concepts of liminality and communitas, we recognize the fecund opportunity of this college process for American teenagers. We also explore why the act of walking the labyrinth is such a powerful tool for centering and why American youth so urgently need access to such tools amidst the cacophony of their current developmental stage.

Incorporating nearly a dozen years of experience working one-on-one with teenagers as an independent educational consultant, I led three separate groups of constituents on labyrinth walks throughout the Eastern seaboard. Narrative outcomes demonstrate concerns about exorbitant financial costs, pressure, stress, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of rejection, and attaching self-worth to prestigious institutional matriculation. The theme of feeling lost emerges as a theological framework wherein the unicursal labyrinth arises as a metaphor for the spiritual journey of life. Students and stakeholders eagerly share insights following the experiential opportunity to walk the labyrinth in silence and reflect on their current topics of concern. The labyrinth emerges as a very powerful tool to access particular adolescent concerns regarding the college search and application process.