Mathematicians know that the path from adolescent competence to adult professional life is full of unexpected twists and turns, and is fraught with potential pitfalls. Even when faced with very able adolescents, it is not at all clear which of them will flourish in the long run, or how one can best support their future development (when they eventually become young adults) in a way that takes their mathematical ability and inclinations seriously – whether in pure or applied mathematics, in computer science or software development, in engineering, mathematical biology, financial mathematics or linguistics, in management, or in some totally different profession.