- Aspirations and Goals
- Inspiration and motivations
“Writing has always been my strength, particularly creative writing, so being an author fits that narrative.”
Participant:
- Online
- white
- 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.
- Perceptions of the term 'connections'
- Relationships, Connections & Networking
“I put LinkedIn, public speaking and family.”
Participant:
- Oakland, CA
- Black
- male
- 15-22
- mixed income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
“[At 70 I’ll] probably not [be alive].”
Participant:
- New Orleans, LA
- white
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Aspirations and Goals
- Imagining their future selves
[At 70] “Listen, my kids are going to be doing whatever they’re doing. I’m going to be like, all right, peace out. If you all need me, I’m in Hawaii. I’m in Switzerland. I’m somewhere else. I’m not in the U.S. I want you all to know this now. I’m, I’ll be back every like five years or so, you know, keep that.”
Participant:
- Baltimore, MD
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- higher income
- Attributes and characteristics
- Describing Identity
“I proud to be an African American female.”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Characterizations of a bad job
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“Teaching middle schoolers…When I was in the 8th grade the 7th graders were so annoying, and now 2 teachers quit because the 7th graders were obnoxious and not listening.”
Participant:
- Pueblo, CO
- Hispanic
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Challenges and Barriers
- Death, loss and uncertainty
“Some concerns that I have are if I will still enjoy what I’m doing in the future.”
Participant:
- Online
- white
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Challenges and Barriers
- Lack of skills and competition
“It will take me a little longer that 4 years cause I will need 150 college credits to [sit] for CPA.”
Participant:
- Online
- Black
- female
- 15-22
- lower income
- Perceptions of the term 'job'
- Understanding Job/Work/Career
“A job is something you like to do, and it’s something fun. And work is just something you do just to pay the bills and get by. And work is something you don’t want to do. A job is something that you want to do.”
Participant:
- Yakima, WA
- Hispanic
- male
- 15-22
- lower income
- Entrepreneurship
- Perceptions of entrepreneurship
“I always wanted to be an artist or a fashion designer, a baker and have my own company for that. But practicality stepped in. It was not a reasonable career choice. It is not really reliable; it is not practical. You don’t know how the business is going to take off or if you can count on the fact that you are going to make money. It is not a stable career, I guess. The career that I chose like changing it, it is like you are more employed by someone, so you at least know that there is money actually coming in. It is just more stability, I guess.”
Participant:
- Los Angeles, CA
- white
- female
- 15-22
- lower income