After meeting with Sunnie and Jeff, I realized my user needs/criteria were all wrong. They were a long laundry list of observations versus high level needs of my teen users.
Here is my second stab at that list:
Empowering users to feel that they have agency in their young lives
Feeling okay/content/mindful with/of who they currently are, understanding that everyone is a work in progress...
Building empathy for themselves and for others
Intervening into their daily packed lives (versus a solution that adds to their packed schedules)
They are not a "nostalgic" group, but still very much value privacy
Being more aware of interests, values, goals or help build their own value system
And my personal criteria is very much grounded in my user needs/criteria because I am so user focused.
Solution that speaks to the research
Success measure is that teens understand a little more about themselves
Feel good about who they are, who they are becoming, who they want to be (come away with feeling like everything will be okay)
Figuring out the right opportunity (teens, teens and their parents, teens and their supervisors, teens and their peers, school, etc.)
Having a strong stance/opinion/side of the subject matter
Building something that changes a few lives versus a ton
