Design Challenge: Redesign the School-to-Work Transition

Empathize and DefineFrom High School to ????

Stakeholder• K is an 18 year old recent high school graduate

living in a small community (20,000 pop.). She is academically and athletically gifted. Her family has limited financial means. She is searching to find what excites and moves her so that she can decide on a career path.

• She has decided to leave her hometown to find work in a large city. She is leaving in 10 days.

• Moving from strict schedule – everyday going to school 5 days a week to not having to anymore. For me a dramatic change. I like it I really do.

• Excited for it but it is also a scary adventure for people my age• The responsibility and independence scares me – feeling like now that I go off and do

my own thing, get my own place and have to support myself – I keep saying it over and over it is a big change.

• The scariest part is failing – the pressure for me knowing that my family does not have a lot so knowing no matter what I have to succeed – a lot of pressure.

• Wished I had talked more to my counselors – would have helped – I didn’t connect to school at all and always felt the school didn’t care and always all they talk about is going to university right away. They don’t have any discussions with kids that are not going to school

• I know that mentally and financially not ready for school – don’t know what I want to pursue – don’t know what I am interested in. School is expensive and I don’t have the money. I want to be sure that I am not wasting money going to school. There were no opportunities in school to find out if I would like to do certain things.

• The teachers and counselors, the only thing they focused on in school was going on to school. They try to make it sound like it is okay to not go to school but there is no support behind it really. When I talked about not going to school right away with my peers and teachers and stuff, they were like that sounds like a great idea but it didn’t feel supportive - felt like I was failing because I wasn’t going to school right away. I know inside it is the right decision

Say

• They have all these seminars and things for going on to university but I wish that there were people to talk to about life – about how do you pay your bills and how do you do these simple things that people like myself have never been taught. The little things like that and even if you do go to school you still need to know these things. They have grade 10 planning – nobody pays attention – should have something, doesn’t have to be a class, but anything to talk to us about life and how to go about it.

• It is a scary thing whether you go to school or not – the little things like how do you go about finding an apartment, eventually finding a job – wasn’t support in that area – I wish there was – a class or a support teacher that could talk to you

• In preparing to look for a job I have taken out my piercings as I want to look professional; updated my resume; quit my job in town. My boss here supports me cause they know I don’t want to stay in town

• I want to gain new experiences, do new things, gain new skills in a different work place because I don’t think I can do it here. The only thing available here is basically fast food or restaurants jobs – good job for a youth but I want to start to get into a more professional field and eventually go to school. No opportunity here – so I want to go out into the world and to see what there is to see and hopefully discover what I am interested in and find out what I do and don’t like

• I am passionate about helping people in many ways – looking now at maybe taking a paramedic course to have something under my belt – one thing to start with. I don’t want to do it for my career because I want to do more. I might not like it but decided to start with

• Passionate about seeing the world and stuff – what I am confused about – how do I do that through good career opportunities

• Going out and doing things and learning things – never know if I don’t try – that’s my main reason for leaving - along my path I don’t know what it is yet but something might happen to me might actually find something I really like and gain experience and find out more about myself and shape my future more. Don’t feel I can do that here.

More to say

• I have a lot of questions in my mind and I don’t know who to ask. I don’t want to appear stupid and sometimes I don’t even know what questions to ask. At times I am overwhelmed with fear and doubt. I don’t want to be so afraid that I can’t move forward.

• It takes courage but I have always wanted to do – always been very independent. I love to succeed. I just want people to be proud of me so decided to just do it and hopefully be happier

• A huge support for me has been my mom who played a big role in my decision. She just tells me about her past experiences and lately since I’ve grown up more I’ve started listening to her and taking her advice and recognition.

• The China trip was huge as it opened my eyes that it was okay that I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet – strong conversations have really pushed me in the right direction.

• I am finding out that I need better critical thinking and problem solving skills. We talked a lot about this on our trip to China. I didn’t learn any of this in school.

And more

Do• Preparation for Job Search – taken out body piercings– updated her resume– internet search– called people who live in the new community to

discuss opportunities • Preparation for Move– quit her job; reference from current employer– developed a “Moving Binder” – has lists of

questions, concerns, information– apartment hunting – internet search, set up viewings

Insights

• Apparent lack of support in high school for youth who are not ready to go on to post secondary education.

• Perceived lack of opportunities to experience different careers/activities in a small community

• Limited knowledge about basic life skills• Awareness of the financial burden associated

with post secondary education and the desire to make informed decisions based on lived experience.

Problem StatementThe Stakeholder:K an 18 year old recent high school graduate who is both academically and athletically gifted. She comes from a family with limited means. She is moving to a larger city to seek employment.

Needs a way to:Successfully experience living in a large city and seek out a variety of opportunities so that she can discover her interests

Because:She believes that discovering her interests will lead her to an appropriate education/career path.