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. 

  • Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“For job, I put paycheck, opportunity, benefits, and annoying. Work, I put tiring, calm environment, enjoyable, career, and I put 9:00 to 5:00. I [wrote down “opportunity”] for job because I feel like if you at a job that’s not like your career, maybe you can learn some stuff to go to your career then to apply it to your career. [I’m saying [work and job] feel different because I feel like job is something like I have to do this, because I have to pay my bills. But career is like I want to do this in the long term.”

Participant:

  • Chicago, IL
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Describing Identity
  • Race, ethnicity, gender, culture

“For gender, female; we should be independent not rely on anyone. Race, brown. For religion I put Jesus. [Race brown means] Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Black, all of that.”

Participant:

  • Pueblo, CO
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Perceptions of the term 'career'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Happy.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Hispanic
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Discrimination and Bias

“We were talking about, you know, going to school or going back to school and kind of accomplishing that. Even when you have that sort of background, you’re still met with what else? You’re still not enough. Even though it’s proven that Black people, you know, when we’re hired we have all this productivity. We get stuff done and all that. It does not matter….A white girl can get like, you know, ushered into a company and have this better position just because she’s white…But we have to work so much harder to get that same position. She can get paid much more. She gets more opportunities.”

Participant:

  • Chicago, IL
  • Black
  • female
  • 26-29
  • higher income
  • Comparing and contrasting 'job' 'work' and 'career'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Like at a job, it’s really just something that you don’t really have to have a passion for it. You know, it’s just there. Say, for instance, if it was work, you would like care about it. Like a job, you don’t really care. So it’s just like attitude is just having attitudes because you don’t really want to do it. You don’t have a passion for it.”

Participant:

  • Greenville, MS
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

[By age 70] “I’ll be retired and living the rest of my days peacefully.”

Participant:

  • Oakland, CA
  • Hispanic
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Perceptions of the term 'work'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Pays the bills.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Aspirations and Goals
  • Imagining their future selves

“But, I mean, yeah, generating revenues, a change of the way our education systems is. Like our education system sucks right now. Bringing jobs back into our community. Trying to reduce the violence levels that we have by giving youth an outlet, you know what I’m saying? Not just the basketball court so people can go hoop, but a recreational center. Do you know what I’m saying? And just things that gives us a different outlet. I didn’t even think of the timeline. So I’m going to just say within the next 10 years, or within the next 10 to 15 years.”

Participant:

  • Chicago, IL
  • Black
  • male
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Challenges and Barriers
  • Family

“I’m telling you, if I’m going to be able to keep my kids, I can’t come to work today. My baby goes to the daycare that I work at. I can’t do, it’s too much stuff going on.”

Participant:

  • Greenville, MS
  • Black
  • female
  • 15-22
  • lower income
  • Perceptions of the term 'career'
  • Understanding Job/Work/Career

“Fulfillment, stress, anxiety.”

Participant:

  • Online
  • white
  • female
  • 26-29
  • mixed income