A Summer Transformed: The Hatchery 2026

Each summer, the Baker Institute welcomes a new cohort to the Hatchery Student Idea Accelerator. These “Hatchlings” learn to tackle "wicked problems," put their ideas to the test, embrace the messiness of the creative process, and push their boundaries as pragmatic problem-solvers. But beyond the prototypes, pitch decks and pivots, the true heart of this experience lives in their personal journeys and genuine connections forged along the way. 

To capture that real human story behind this year's program, Mahi Patel ’29 expressed her experience in verse: 

A Summer Transformed: The Hatchery 2026

I desired to accomplish something big
during my summer time.
The opportunity appeared in my inbox,
and I took a leap of faith, 
and found exactly what I was looking for. 

It's called a Hatchery for a reason
Not because we were fragile, 
But because we were learning every step of the way 
Peaking through the crack of “I don’t know if I can”  
One case study at a time

We sat with problems that weren't ours yet, 
borrowed businesses felt like borrowed attire  
tried them on for a specific size: 
this market, customer discovery, prototype 
and somewhere between the whiteboard lessons,  
we stopped playing the analyst role,  
and started thinking like one.  

Then came something of our own.  
My own idea, raw, built from scratch,  
presented in front of people who had built real things,  
who had also failed, 
who looked at my half-done pitch  
and did not laugh or judge, 
They listened.  

Michelle, who asked the question I didn’t think of asking myself 
JR, whose feedback was soft, but cut straight to the point 
Nadine, who fully saw the vision of my idea before I did 
and believed it anyway.  

That’s the part I didn't expect: 
It’s not supposed to feel like confidence,  
It feels like standing in a room 
not knowing exactly what's happening 
where someone experienced asks you a difficult question 
and you answer it anyway. 

The leaders we met weren't there to prove themselves. 
They were actual proof for us students: 
proof that this distance between “student” and “someone experienced”  
is shorter than it seems 
encouraged by curiosity, not certainty.  

I came in not having any idea of what I wanted to work on. 
I left with a real problem, lessons, and experience I am grateful to have 
and three names I won’t forget:  Michelle, JR, Nadine. 

We aren’t hatched all the way yet: 
still learning what we’re made of 
but no longer just an egg 
waiting to be told what to become. ✨