Pike-Delta-York Local School District put together a team of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and local business people to discuss the qualities and traits our students need to thrive in an ever-changing world. This process put together the “Portrait of a Panther.”
During the first meeting, the team discussed research on the changing demographics of our region, how the workplace has been evolving, and how technology is rapidly changing our lives and productivity.
The second meeting was focused on identifying the key mindsets, skills, or attributes the team believed our students need in order to be leaders and to be future-ready. Great discussion was had about instilling leadership and confidence, and what foundation a student needs to demonstrate leadership and confidence. In today’s world of social media, plenty of research has shown that our youth lack a lot of confidence. Much of that comes from them comparing themselves to others on social media or not getting those viral posts. Our team discussed how difficult it is for a teen who has grown up in a digital world to communicate with the workforce that has been in the industry for 40 years. Our students need to be able to communicate in person, in public, and in digital format.
After the second meeting, we sent surveys out to students, parents, and community members to gain feedback on what competencies they believe are important for our students. Much of their feedback confirmed the conversations we were having as a local team. We brainstormed which key words best describes the attributes we were going for. We know our students have to communicate. Our students need to learn to think on their own, use resources to make informed decisions, and prepare themselves to be ahead of challenges that are forthcoming. The four words we deemed to be most important are: Communication, Adaptability, Responsibility, and Critical Thinking.
In working with local industry, we heard multiple times, “If you give us a person who will show up every day, be able to communicate, and can problem solve, we can teach them the job.” We are embedding these attributes into everything we do. As a staff, we have to communicate, adapt, take responsibility, and think critically to solve complex problems.
This entire process has built a “Portrait of a Panther.” From Pre-School to Senior Year, we will be focusing on these competencies to ensure that our students are Future-Ready to be employed, enlisted, enrolled or entrepreneurs.