- Reflections on Focus Group Experience
- Takeaways
“It’s interesting to see how much I have grown professionally from college to today. It’s also good to see that I am on pace to meet my goals.”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- male
- 26-29
- mixed income
Youth Quote Search
Welcome to the Striving to Thriving Youth Quote Library. Here you’ll find a curated collection of more than 5,700 quotes from young people ages 15-22 living in communities across the United States. In the library you can see how young people describe their multifaceted identities, how they understand and apply meaning to language around job, work and career, how they think about and assign value to relationships, networking and connections, and their future goals and the education and career choices they believe will lead them there. You can also view additional notes on curation, categories and filters.
- Describing Identity
- Race, ethnicity, gender, culture
“I am female, white and Christian.”
Participant:
- Pueblo, CO
- white
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
“[At 45] I see myself go through college and become an accountant. I see myself as an accountant with a family. Preferably I would move out of California to somewhere else and have a couple close friends and then have my family back here. [I want to move out of California because] it is crowded, too many people.”
Participant:
- Los Angeles, CA
- white
- male
- 15-22
- mixed income
- Pathways
- Steps and stages
“Graduate high school, go to college and get my AA, transferring over to a UCU, finding a girlfriend, getting my law degree and getting my real estate license, opening up a law firm. Using the money I make from law and invest it in real estate and then with the money I invest increase my income. Retire at 50 and have at least 8 figures in my bank account and living like [I am].”
Participant:
- Los Angeles, CA
- white
- male
- 15-22
- mixed income
- Reflections on Focus Group Experience
- Takeaways
“It was great, looking back at what I have to go through to get to the end of that pathway [and] how can I stay on the right track?”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Perceptions of the term 'career'
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“I think it is very individual. I put life’s purpose, mission, passion, goals, long term.”
Participant:
- New York, NY
- white
- female
- 26-29
- higher income
- Pathways
- Steps and stages
“Be a sheriff. To me that is like I look at a career and I do want to do that, but I don’t want to miss these years [with my son].”
Participant:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Hispanic
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Entrepreneurship
- Perceptions of entrepreneurship
“Yes, I hope to start several businesses in the future. I want to own several businesses so that I will make [massive] income and won’t have to work a 9-5.”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Attributes and characteristics
- Describing Identity
“Outgoing, adventurous and funny…I like doing crazy stuff like going on hiking trips and jumping off cliffs into a river or something.”
Participant:
- Oakland, CA
- Hispanic
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
“I see myself at 25 living in Denver, Colorado, buy…own a house like right on top of a hill or somewhere. I see myself sketching for everybody like my own building, and I see my mama with her own house too. [Denver because] It’s just, like when we have our family together, we just start talking about stuff. And I think I heard my little cousin before died say something about Denver, Colorado. So I started researching. Oh, that is nice place. And ain’t nobody…that I know.”
Participant:
- Greenville, MS
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income