Who’s in Your Corner? Using Relationship Mapping to Help Students See Their Networks
In our 2025 Building Student Networks Improvement Lab, the team from Tech Unlimited, Ray Barash and Haley Shibble, set out to understand a powerful question:
Why aren’t all students forming strong personal networks?
To explore it, they turned to relationship mapping, an activity that helps students see and reflect on their support systems. What they discovered offered fresh insight into how young people define connection—and how we, as educators, can support them in building stronger ties.
What Is Relationship Mapping?
Relationship mapping is a visual exercise that invites students to chart out the people, communities, and systems that support them — both emotionally and practically. It’s a creative, low-stakes way to spark deep reflection on connection, identity and access.
At Tech Unlimited, the team paired this activity with empathy interviews to get a fuller picture of each student’s network. Here’s how it went down ⬇️
How They Did It
Ray and Haley introduced the mapping activity during a relaxed, social programming day with about 20 students. Their goal? To keep it fun and conversational, not just another worksheet to complete.
→ Haley framed the activity as a reflective and creative moment.
→ Ray modeled his own map live on a whiteboard using just initials, to preserve privacy and normalize the process.
When students felt stuck, the team gently prompted them with questions, such as:
💬 What do you do for fun?
💬 Who do you go to for help?
💬 What groups or communities are you part of?
These open-ended prompts helped students think expansively about who and what makes up their personal web of support.
What They Heard
One of the most powerful takeaways? Students named Tech Unlimited and their schools as important sources of support. That’s not something educators can take for granted, but the maps also surfaced deeper insights:
Some students included celebrities, which led to rich conversations about the difference between aspirational figures and tangible supporters.
Few students listed peers, even though they felt connected to Tech Unlimited. This raised a big question: Are students more comfortable relying on adults than on each other?
From Insight to Action
The relationship maps revealed a gap: students weren’t seeing each other as part of their network. So, the team got to work.
They created a plan to:
Build in time for peer connection
Use icebreakers focused on skills and strengths, not just shared interests
Encourage students to see each other as valuable sources of support
Lessons Learned
Scaffolding matters → Having printed templates, a live model, and a list of prepared prompts made a big difference.
Language shapes engagement → Reframing “Who do you go to for support?” as “Who would you turn to if you had a problem?” opened up more authentic responses.
Group vs. one-on-one settings → The group setting made the activity feel light and social, but the team reflected that some students might feel safer sharing their maps individually.
Document everything → Keeping a record of student maps helped the team reflect on shared patterns and needs.
Want to Try Relationship Mapping?
Ready to try this with your own students? Our Empathy Toolkit includes this activity (and others!) to help you center youth voice and strengthen connection in your programming.
This blog was written by Learning & Improvement Manager, Marieme Diouf, in partnership with the Tech Unlimited team, and edited by Senior Communications Manager, Jamiee Nathaniel.
