Digging Deeper...
/Creating, marketing and merchandising graduation gifts is an annual, seasonal retail industry event – akin to Valentine’s Day and Mother’s and Father’s Day et al. Hundreds of items – such as watches, diploma frames, sentimental family heirloom jewelry and keepsakes, as well as practical furnishings for dorm-life – are among the inventory of traditional commencement gifts for college grads. Lately, though, tradition is giving way to what’s trending. Good Housekeeping, the iconic chronicler and influencer of American good taste, recently prepared a list of the “The 44 Best Graduation Gifts.” At the top were a portable cell phone charger, a deluxe cold-brew coffee maker and a laundry backpack. For high school grads, GH noted, “Cash is still one of the most popular graduation gifts.” But Kansas City-based DeBruce Foundation recently has come up with what arguably is the most practical – and in the long run, the most valuable – graduation gift of all. And it’s free. Grads need only to go to DeBruce’s website to get it.
Dennis McLaughlin, McLaughlin Writers LLC – Sources: DeBruce Foundation’s Agile Work Profiler; Chanelle Zak, Community and Multi-Media Coordinator, Lents Mazur Associates, LLC; Kristie Larsen, DeBruce Foundation.
DeBruce Foundation’s Gift To 2023 Graduates
Kansas City-based DeBruce Foundation is laser-focused on expanding economic growth and opportunity for people and communities all around the country. Established in 1988 by Paul DeBruce, founder of DeBruce Grain, Inc, it is a national organization committed to helping individuals discover their potential and direct it toward pathways to meaningful accomplishments and satisfying careers. A byproduct of that mission is the strengthening of communities and the enhancement of the lives of those living in them. Succinctly put, The Foundation has developed strategies and programs that change how people pursue, thrive in and change careers. “Starting with youth and working across their lifespan,” notes The Foundation.
The DeBruce Foundation, offers unique ways for people, especially youth, to recognize, unlock and apply their potential for contributive careers. “We care about our students and we understand the importance of developing our work force,” said Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight, Executive Director and COO of The DeBruce Foundation, when The Foundation introduced its Graduation Toolkit for high school and college graduates in the Class of 2020
The debut of the Graduation Toolkit turned out to be timely. In late 2019 – just before the COVID-19 breakout – Ellucian, a provider of software services to higher education institutions and organizations, published findings from its study, Course Correction: Helping Students Find and Follow a Path to Success. (See Sidebar “Course Correction: The Findings.”)
The survey found that college students, especially those in Generation Z, struggle to pick a major, which increases the time and cost associated with obtaining a degree. Many incoming students are not confident in their career path and almost two-thirds of students feel overwhelmed by the process of selecting a major. The result can be that students change their majors without understanding the ramifications, take unnecessary courses and delay their expected graduation, sometimes by multiple semesters. Class of 2023 grads – high school and college – have completed much of their diploma and degree work while navigating through the turbulence of COVID-19 – making the best of remote learning, dealing with canceled opportunities and entering a workforce marked by layoffs, The Foundation points out.
“At The DeBruce Foundation, we want to help people thrive in the workforce. Graduates have completed a major milestone in their career journey, and they deserve to be celebrated and supported,” says Dr. Taylor Knight. “We’re sharing our career literacy resources to help equip young people to build successful careers and bright futures.”
The Graduation Toolkit has helped students throughout these past few years and aims to reach more grads this year than ever before, Dr. Taylor Knight adds. For the record, that means the potential number of graduates who could take advantage of the Graduation Toolkit this year is close to five and a half million (2.2 million college grads and 3.3 million high school grads), according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At the moment, The DeBruce Foundation is ramping up efforts to get the word out to as many high school and college grads as possible. Some of the schools and institutions it is partnering with include UMKC, KU, MU, the Kansas Board of Regents, Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Parker Dewey, LLC, a network of college students and graduates engaged with industry to create micro-internships.
What’s In The Toolkit
The Graduation Toolkit is a collection of three online career tools that The DeBruce Foundation has developed over three decades: Agile Work Profiler, Career Explorer Tools and Draw Your Future with Agilities, a series of interactive workshops viewed on YouTube. Its aim is to help graduates identify their work skills, explore in-demand job opportunities and make a solid plan for their future. “The objective is to broaden career opportunities for individuals,” Dr. Taylor Knight says. It’s based on The DeBruce Foundation’s Agile Work Profiler (AWP) program and platform that discovers, accesses and assesses an individual’s skills, strengths, interests and other attributes that could direct that person to interesting, rewarding career options he or she never considered.
“AWP’s concept of an agility implies that an individual may succeed in a diverse set of career options,” explains Dr. Taylor Knight, “within a given career domain and across several different domains.” The notion of agility has two critical implications, according to The Foundation. First, individuals often have existing strengths that are transferable to a variety of career domains even when such domains are seemingly dissimilar. Such assets can open up meaningful career options. Secondly, the idea of agility assumes that individuals may already possess an array of capabilities that can be strengthened and improved upon to widen their path to careers that align with their interests.
The interactive Career Explorer tool introduces graduates to industry occupations, companies, company culture, hiring requirements, work activities as well as income, career growth potential and other demands. The DeBruce Foundation partners also with Patti Dobrowolski, creator of Draw Your Future & Up Your Creative Genius, combining her unique, imaginative interactive workshop presentations with the Agile Work Profiler, that offer a beneficial career planning experience for students and adults.
Here’s What They’re Saying
Aubrey Hacke was a 2021 Health Science graduate of St. Louis University, and then her plans were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She used the Graduation Toolkit to realize her strengths and transferable skills: “The Agilities resources in the Graduation Toolkit helped me determine my path to becoming a teacher during a time when I didn’t know what my next move would be,” said Hacke. Now a high school science teacher, she added, “Now, I use these resources in my own classroom. It’s so rewarding to see students discover more about themselves and help them plan for future successful careers.”
Isiah Humes, Georgia State University Class of 2023, has this to say: “As I’m looking to my next steps after graduation, these career resources have helped me identify my strengths and find avenues to follow my passions in ways I didn’t know I could in the workforce. Having this guidance inspires me even more to strive for my goals in the marketing industry.”
Course Correction: The Findings
The 2019 Ellucian study conducted in partnership with Washington, D.C.-based Market Connections surveyed 1,000 students enrolled in two and four-year U.S. public and private colleges. In addition to learning that many students were finding it difficult to choose a major, the survey found that while students often turn to institution-employed advisors for advice, pathways approaches can simplify choices for them by providing structured, clear paths through college coursework and on to the start of their careers. Additionally, personalized technology tools can ensure that students have clarity into their individual goals and the requirements needed to achieve them.
Today’s college students are confused and anxious when it comes to selecting a major.
51 percent of students are not confident in their career path when they enroll in college.
Almost two-thirds of students feel overwhelmed by the process of selecting a major.
Gen Z (68 % )
Millennials (63 %)
Gen X students (49 %)
18 % found their schools to be less than helpful in providing guidance on majors.
One in three students are not sure which major aligns with their chosen career path.
Changing majors increases the time and cost associated with obtaining a degree.
More than half of students change their major at least once. Gen Z (44 %) stayed the course more often than their Millennial (58 %) and Gen X (54 %) peers.
39 % of students said they needed to take additional general education courses as a result of a change in major.
31 % of students needed to take additional major courses as a result of a change in major.
28 % of students said their change in major delayed their expected graduation rate by two or more semesters.
Students rely on advisors for support when choosing classes but could use more attention when transferring.
57 % of students turn to their school advisors most often for helpful advice when registering.
However, 64 % only met with their advisor 2 times or less during the most recent academic year.
Academic plans, required courses and current courses are the top topics discussed in meetings with advisors.
One in three students did not receive advice from their two-year school on what courses were eligible for transfer.
54 % of transfer students did not get advice about on-campus resources from their four-year schools.
Students are highly interested in new, personalized technology to help them stay on track.
80 % of students say an online “what-if” tool for majors and degrees would help them stay on track.
70 % say an online “one-stop shop” for all essential student services would be very or extremely helpful.
66 % would benefit from proactive advising/targeted interventions.
62 % expressed interest in date reminder nudges.