This summer, five teachers and four administrators attended the Design Thinking Institute at The Nueva School in San Mateo, CA. The 3.5 day institute took participants through the Design Thinking process, and then provided scaffolded learning experiences to understand the mindsets, curriculum design, assessment, and resources needed to implement Design Thinking. Instructors were both K-12 teachers and current students at The Nueva School, which provided various lenses through which to look at how Design Thinking impacts student learning and cognitive development. A key message from the institute is that the Design Thinking process fosters student creativity, critical thinking, and empathy, skills all students need to be successful in both college and career, and more importantly, to have a happy life.