1. Say
• Students feel rushed into deciding what they want to do in school.
• Students don‟t have an opportunity to be reflective of what they are
passionate about and how they might apply that to a “career”.
• Schools are pushing so hard to push students to get good grades that
they don‟t focus on preparing themselves for life after college.
• At her school they changed the name of their Career Center to the
“Office of Postgraduate Development”.
• Teaches Calculus II class. Ninety percent of the students are freshmen
who want to be doctors, but most of the students take this class and
biology and fail, so they have to figure out a new career strategy.
• Many people throughout life say “what do you want to be or do with
your life?” If you don‟t have an answer for them, then they think
something is wrong with you.
• Would advocate for a gap year between high school and college, where
the students do a specific project or volunteer program. Allows them to
reflect on “what do I like?”
• One of her best students graduated this year and didn‟t want to
graduate school. He was afraid of the initial job search and didn‟t know
where to begin. She encouraged him to just go on job sites and look
around to feel better about his skills and how they can be applied in the
working world.
• Many students feel they need to pursue a job that it is going to make
them money. At many liberal arts schools, they say to “pursue your
passion”, but that doesn‟t necessarily match up to a lucrative future.
There‟s a disconnect with this idea and what happens in the real world.
• A high percentage of the top 20% of jobs didn‟t exist 20 years ago.
• Very few people start college thinking “I‟m going to major in this area”
and actually end up doing that same major. This doesn‟t mean that
they‟re not happy with where they ended up.
• Referenced the “Butterfly Effect” for careers. Thinks that if we all help to
educate younger kids about the career paths that are available to them
(specifically non-traditional paths), then they can start getting exposure
and reflect on their future.
• Instead of “Bring Your Child to Work Day” it should be “Bring Your Work
to Your Child Day” or Career Day, but with interesting people.
• Mentorship is incredibly important. Women CEOs are talking about
Leaning In and mentoring. The same goes with career direction.
• No well-paying 40-hour a week job exists anymore. There are many
demands on people‟s time, so what is the incentive for them to mentor
others?
• Issue with college interns/research students. You can‟t predict how they
are going to act. What is good on paper may not be what is seen on the
job.
• People are all overburdened. Everyone is looking for “Where‟s the
money in this”, not thinking about what „s good for the next generation.
• Prioritizing of tasks—important versus urgent. Many of these items fall
within the important but not urgent category. If it is not urgent, no one is
going to force you to do it. You have to take it upon yourself to do it.
That‟s why it gets pushed to the side.
• People will succeed when they have a personal connection to
something. From that point on, they can determine what skills they
need to get to where I need to be?
• Have a general awareness and appreciation of the things you can do.
Have a mechanism for that rather than a skills test that pigeonholes
people. You then have your blinders on and you forget everything else.
• Possible solution: Have a database of people‟s careers in your
community and list their undergraduate degrees and what they do with
it now (e.g. Michael Bloomberg was an Electrical Engineer from Johns
Hopkins, but ended up as the Mayor of New York)
• Encourage students to take the windy road or “the road less traveled” to
find out about themselves and what they should do.
• Her school one of two STEM schools for the POSSE Foundation
(possefoundation.org), where they take high school students from
underprivileged backgrounds and send them to college in a “posse.”
• National Science Foundation grants wants grantees to show that they
will have a broader impact on the community, while the National
Institutes of Health research grants don‟t. Funding for research
increase year-by-year is larger than NSF‟s entire budget.

2. Think
• Students don’t have an opportunity to be reflective of what they are
passionate about and how they might apply that to a “career”.
• Many students feel they need to pursue a job that it is going to make
them money. At many liberal arts schools, they say to “pursue your
passion”, but that doesn’t necessarily match up to a lucrative future.
There’s a disconnect with this idea and what happens in the real
world.
• Have a general awareness and appreciation of the things you can do.
Have a mechanism for that rather than a skills test that pigeonholes
people. You then have your blinders on and you forget everything
else.
• Mentorship is incredibly important. Women CEOs are talking about
Leaning In and mentoring. The same goes with career direction.
• School to work transition is not just for people transitioning to a
career, but to a postgraduate life, whatever that entails.

3. Feel
• To be successful at school to work transition, colleges must also
make students think about how they will apply their skills into a job
that is beneficial for the individual but also the employer(s).
• Schools are pushing students hard to get good grades that they don’t
focus on preparing themselves for life after college.
• Many people throughout life say “what do you want to be or do with
your life?” If you don’t have an answer for them, then they think
something is wrong with you.
• Very few people start college thinking “I’m going to major in this area”
and actually end up doing that same major. This doesn’t mean that
they’re not happy with where they ended up.
• Encourage students to take the windy road or “the road less traveled”
to find out about themselves and what they should do.
• People will succeed when they have a personal connection to
something. From that point on, they can determine what skills they
need to get to where I need to be?