Back to School: Five Ways to Leverage Your Envision Experience

“I’ll Be Back”:  The Future is Coming for Us…

If you have been paying attention, you may have heard that a robot is going to take your job.  To listen to some of the rhetoric, it seems that most of us will wander aimlessly across a barren planet in search of work only to realize that the Terminator movies were actually documentaries sent back from the future.

While we may not be able to identify the exact job titles of tomorrow, current and emerging trends indicate that:

• 85% of the jobs in 2030 don’t exist today[1]
• Nearly 50% of current work activities can be automated with existing technology[2]
• By 2030, ~375 million workers may need to change their occupation category[3]

Simply, the future will be different—really different.  Compared to the present and the past, it will require different skills, different behaviors, and different mindsets. While the next twenty years will be defined by disruption on a historic scale that will redefine the world of work and life, it will also create a period of incredible opportunity for individuals who can innovate, think critically, collaborate, and communicate effectively. 

Back to School:  Five Ways to Amplify Your Envision Program Experience

This past summer, you laid a foundation of insights, skills, and behaviors that can be leveraged to support your success this school year.  Additionally, you should continue to build upon that experience so that you are ready to seize the incredible opportunity that awaits your generation.  Here’s how to get started:

1. Talk With Your College/Career Counselor – You gained insight into both yourself and several career paths this summer.Schedule at least 15 minutes to share these learnings with your high school college/career counselor.This can be the start of helping you narrow down the potential exciting pathways in front of you.
2. Expand Your Social Network – As you experienced this summer, college life is social.Recent research shows that mature social skills are one of the key factors in post-secondary success rates.Expand upon the communication and collaboration skills that you sharpened this summer by joining a new club or activity at your school or in your community—just don’t forget about your fellow Envision alumni.
3. Gain New Experiences – At Envision, you saw the power of immersive, experiential learning to prepare your for success in high school, college, and career.Build connections with teachers, coaches, and area professionals and ask them for recommendations that allow you to see behind the scene and experience the subjects you are studying.You might be surprised at where they can point you.
4. Step Up & Lead – Regardless of the program that you attended this past summer, creativity/innovation and critical thinking skills were the DNA of that program.Test these new skills out by looking to identify, analyze, and solve problems within your own school or community.Run for a school elected office; start a new club; lead a volunteer event; or get involved with local and state elections.
5. Carpe Diem – You probably remember the phrase “Carpe Futurum” from your summer program and the importance of recognizing your responsibility for proactively taking charge of your future.One of the key ways to help shape your future is to actively shape your present.Take advantage of every opportunity that the new school year provides.