Defining Success After High School: Purpose, Pressure, and the Paths We Choose

This is a youth-led forum, powered by student voices.

College is often treated as the default next step after high school, but students face a much wider range of possibilities and very different barriers to accessing them. As graduation approaches, young people may also feel pressure to choose the "right" school, career, or path before they have had enough experience to know what success actually means to them.

At this student-led forum, we will challenge traditional definitions of success while examining the choices students face after graduation. From college and career decisions to trades, entrepreneurship, public service, and other pathways, the conversation will ask how young people can make informed decisions while navigating cost, expectations, opportunity, and pressure from the people and systems around them.

Pre-Forum Student Experience

Doors Open: 11:00 a.m.
Interactive Pre-Forum Activity: 11:15-11:45 a.m.
Forum: 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Students are encouraged to arrive early for a special interactive experience designed to get them thinking about their own definitions of success before the forum begins.

The activity will invite students to respond to the question, "What does success mean to you?" Students will contribute to a collective sticky-note wall and participate in an interactive activity examining some of the priorities that influence decisions after high school, including purpose, financial stability, education, and flexibility.

Their responses will help set the stage for the noon conversation and give panelists an immediate look at how students in the room are thinking about their futures.

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Online ticket sales for this forum will conclude on Monday, October 19th at 11:30am. Still need a ticket? Let us know! Complete the ticket waitlist form here. We will reach out directly if we can accommodate your request, subject to availability.

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The livestream will be available beginning at 12:00pm. Have questions for the Q&A? Text them to 330.541.5794.

Production and distribution of City Club forums in partnership with Ideastream Public Media is generously provided by PNC and the United Black Fund.