What Happens When Student-Driven Youth Career Technology Meets the Moment
Pupil is 2021’s Winner of the ASA Prize. All companies above gain access to StartEd’s programs for education innovators. Find details at www.started.com
Byline:
Clare Bertrand, Director, Jobs for the Future (JFF)
Tyler Nakatsu, Senior Manager, Jobs for the Future (JFF)
Alisa Wilke, Vice President of Strategy & Innovation, American Student Assistance (ASA)
As the nation steers toward recovery, the way that young people learn will forever be changed. The pandemic revealed that technology will not only be a linchpin in student learning—but also in how young people socialize and network. Further, it isn’t lost on our future workers that the labor market shifted radically with millions lost jobs and occupations that were so familiar as entry-level jobs either disappeared or were completely transformed.
Young adults are realizing that they will need better tools to make good decisions about their education and career. Career exploration is beginning to happen earlier for learners as learning is increasingly connected to work, and as students seek to empower themselves with an understanding of social capital, labor market information, return-on-investment in education credentials, and their own values.
“Many students feel pressure to follow a narrow path to success by getting into a highly ranked college and securing a competitive entry-level position,” said Tinsley Maier, Co-Founder & CPO of Edgi Learning, a curated marketplace and community platform for young learners and creators making high-quality educational content. ”As the job market changes and more and more white-collar jobs are automated, students are realizing the value of developing skills that are uniquely human and will serve them across both their personal and professional lives.”
Steering the Ship: Student-Driven Career Navigation and Decision-Making
Finalists from this year’s Youth Career Technology Shark Tank talk about what student entrepreneurs need to succeed.
Students expect platforms and digital tools to give them a streamlined, personalized picture of advancement opportunities, transferable skills, access to mentors and other networks (their own or new), and myriad other elements that make up an individual’s experience of, and within, the labor market. And, what they’ve realized is that if the market isn’t providing what they need, they can build it themselves. Students deserve a deeper understanding of how technology empowers them to develop engagement and employability skills—crucial for careers and in life. To do this, students need to be at the table to lead in the development of tools that help them navigate their lives.
This year for EdTech Week, JFF and American Student Assistance partnered to produce a platform to shine a light on youth-driven solutions like in career technology. Young entrepreneurs pitched postsecondary or career navigation technology for a challenge called Youth Career Technology Shark Tank, where Maier’s company was a finalist.
This challenge provided the crucial perspectives that young people bring to the technology development and career navigation solution market. The event cast a vision of a sustained student-centered future, where young people are empowered to make informed decisions about how they navigate their futures in the classroom as well as in their careers.
“Entrepreneurial skills such as active listening, creative problem solving, and public speaking are often under-emphasized in educational settings. Whether they become entrepreneurs or not, students are eager to develop positive relationships and build confidence in their ability to wrestle with big issues facing the world today”
Technology as a Driver to Empower Youth Entrepreneurs
The pitches made it abundantly clear—technology has great potential, but current solutions to help young people have yet to meet the mark. Current career technologies that help young people access information about postsecondary and career pathways can lack the information about career advancement, skill-building, and credentials necessary for young people to create long-term plans that allow for pivots, off-ramps, and upskilling. Youth entrepreneurs are making moves to bring this information to students.
“Students are empowered through the interactive platform’s unbounded—design to disrupt the inequalities of socioeconomics [with increased access and opportunities] to guide students into their education and career pathways,” said Dario Anaya, Co-Founder of Pupil, a platform focused on providing high school students with opportunities and guidance towards their future career goals. Pupil was the winner of Shark Tank and was awarded the ASA Prize which included $5,000 cash and three months of mentorship from StartEd.
And yet the optimism of the applications received was driven by the belief that the impact potential of student-led solutions really couldn’t be so timely. Today, young people face significant challenges despite their talent, resilience, and promise while making the best bet on a promising career path can be dicey, particularly with the uncertainty spun on by the pandemic.
“Educators are an instrumental variable to an equation for success in student entrepreneurs: by challenging their ideas, providing constructive criticism, and sharing opportunities or resources to help them in their journey”
Supporting Student-Driven Career Navigation: Investing in Youth Entrepreneurship
Barriers make it difficult to navigate options that guarantee advancement. A recent study shows that during the 2020-2021 school year, students from high schools classified as “high-poverty” were less likely to enroll in college than their peers. Additionally unemployment among young people increased from 8.4 to 24.4 percent during the pandemic. Youth unemployment and disconnection from education can also cost taxpayers $93 billion in taxes annually and $1.6 trillion over their lifetimes in lost revenues and increased social services.
As educators and investors, there’s a responsibility we have for building opportunities for students to step up to the challenge of design and developing and building a vision for what's possible through student entrepreneurship.
“Entrepreneurial skills such as active listening, creative problem solving, and public speaking are often under-emphasized in educational settings,” said Maier. ”Whether they become entrepreneurs or not, students are eager to develop positive relationships and build confidence in their ability to wrestle with big issues facing the world today.”
“Educators are an instrumental variable to an equation for success in student entrepreneurs: by challenging their ideas, providing constructive criticism, and sharing opportunities or resources to help them in their journey” said Aarav Makadia, Co-Founder, Pupil.
JFFLabs and ASA will continue to support and work with youth entrepreneurs by creating opportunities like Shark Tanks. Our shared mission to foster experiences for students to provide vital insight we need to bring to the technology development and career navigation solution market.