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.
“Something that is appealing to me would be getting into electro-mechanics, like building, because technology is blowing up. In 10 years you are going to have cars that is going to take off on you. I want to be able to know how to build that, to be able to build my own stuff.”
“I will start off by graduating high school, getting experience by volunteering. Applying to a 2-year community college, transferring to a West Coast university. Then I will become a registered nurse and I will get my NP. I would be financially stable, married with kids. I would love what I do every day by traveling.”
“Well, my starting point just basically means I started this from nowhere, started from scratch, basically. I always start my goal but I never finish it… just working on it, not waiting for others to encourage me…I messed up. I should have kept the…just… believe in myself when no one else did…I’ve got this. Keep going. You’re almost there. There, you made it. Motivate yourself. I made it.”
“Besides the Pharmacist Tech I was offered one more position in becoming a buyer for a clothing company. I first worked there as a shipper and took on a few extra jobs. They saw the consistency I had and how easy it was for me. Also they could tell I was in fact a fast learner. One amazing Chinese guy I’ll never forget him because he [saw] the potential I had and quickly showed me a couple things on the computer to see if I would catch on. I did catch on quickly. It was very interesting to me the way they worked and wanted to learn more. After that he told me he would be right back and spoke to the main boss in charge. He came out and offered me a raise to do computer work. I was so grateful but then they closed down being only private company. The value in the opportunity was learning something interesting and knowing what you’re doing making you feel so important. I even changed the way I dressed for work. I no longer came comfortable. I then came in work gear. The less value of it was I didn’t make much more than one dollar and I knew I was being under paid for such a great position, but yet still took on the job for the experience!”
“For networking, I said looking for connections, outgoing and putting yourself out there. Outgoing as in networking; you are trying to gain connections. For example, say you are a track racer or drag racer or a street racer. Whatever kind of racer you are, looking for sponsors. For example, a racer goes through tires like it is nothing, so you would want a tire sponsor so it doesn’t affect your wallet as much. You are technically advertising them, so tires and stuff like that. And that was outgoing and putting yourself out there is kind of like going somewhere where you have never been. For example, going to some random city you have never been to and going on a drag strip and racing and putting on a show and being the hot topic for a week or two and gaining connections that way.”
“Well, you don’t want less than six figures. My sister makes a six figure salary, and she’s barely paying off her loans. So, I definitely don’t want less than that.”
“Basically it just seems like a lot of the teachers are there to get a check. Just being honest.”
“Without other people, when you are just depending on yourself, you need that first, but when you are just depending on yourself and you are trying to be completely self-sufficient and blocking others out, you are just surviving. If you reach out and have this diverse support system for everything you need, you can have all your needs met and you can be really thriving and be able to reach all of your goals rather than just surviving and trying to isolate yourself.”
“Living.”
“I’ve experienced quite a bit related to my career. In college, I had multiple internships both during the school year and during summer. I worked as a student manager at the student union and rec center. I had multiple internships working a specific construction project, all related to my field. In college I joined multiple clubs related to my major and career and still have relationships from working with those people.”