Youth Quote Search

• Education
• Perceptions of college and postsecondary

“They liked the party lifestyle but they also said make sure you don’t get off track with your studies.”

• Perceptions of the term 'work'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

[On work] “career.”

• Perceptions of the term 'job'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Happy. I’m happy to have a job which provides me with income.”

• Perceptions of the term 'career'
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Growth.”

• Attributes and characteristics
• Describing Identity

“I see myself as quiet, shy and a little reserved. I see myself as a good person, a law abiding citizen, a person that respect adults and authority. I enjoy the friends I have. I enjoy having a clean room and house. I like decorating and I like to bake and cook.”

• Aspirations and Goals
• Inspiration and motivations

“I feel like my parents make me hardworking and driven because regardless I could have sat back and got money from them or have my dad pay for this and that. Instead I went and got it myself, and by the time I was 18, I had my own car and moving out. I have my own place. People my age are still living with their parents and not really figuring out what they want to do. I took that step for myself and figured it out and did it. So, I feel like I am driven in certain ways like business wise and professional and things like that. That is where that comes from.”

• Characterizations of a bad job
• Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Office…It is so boring; you are sitting in a cubicle just doing nothing, doing paperwork and sitting on the computer. No socialization. Horrible boss.”

• Challenges and Barriers
• Lack of support

“Ex friends and close friends. Sometimes family members actually put you down. When I worked in the factory, I told them I want to be a doctor. They are like why do you want to be a doctor. You could just work here. No. They are going into seniority, and I am like I don’t want to end up like that. I want to end up doing something I want to do.”

• Aspirations and Goals
• Imagining their future selves

“I said maybe, hopefully, at that point, I’ll find a wife who will travel or is willing to like move with me if I have to move. Because like it’s important. Like if you’re going to have a relationship, they’ll be like willing to move. And then it said and like maybe once I retire, they’ll support me in finding a career. And then I said if I decide to have kids or raise kids, it may like cause troubles because I’ll be in the military, and like I’ll have to either home school them or keep transferring them in different schools…”

• Challenges and Barriers
• Lack of skills and competition

“I put focusing on schoolwork because one of my biggest pet peeves is I’m a hands-on person and I’m an interactive person. So, reading a textbook, opening a textbook, schoolwork, in general, I really do not like it at all. So, I just need to get over that so I can see my bigger picture and my goal because it’s going to be a lot of it for what I want to do. So, that’s probably my only thing. I put focusing…I feel like you need to figure out different tools of studying and stuff like that in order to get over it…I know from my experience, whenever I’m in a lecture in class, I can pick up stuff. But as soon as I have to go open a textbook, it’s like in one eyeball and out the other.”