What can we say that makes as much of an impact as a sold-out, 5,000+ attendee summit in sunny San Diego after two years of lockdowns and COVID surges? We’ll do our best to paint you a picture, but can promise it will never be as phenomenal as the hugs and handshakes we got to exchange with the most driven and innovative people in this business.
To start, our schedule was full this time around with our Vice President of Partnerships, Stephanie Short, discussing the persistence and necessity of Durable Skills in education pathways on three different panels over three days.
We kicked off these conversations with Dave Zasada of Intuit, Courtney Reilly of Skillsline, Mike Flanagan of Master Transcript Consortium and Susan Enfield of Highline Public Schools to discuss ‘How to Make Durable Skills the New Prioritized Core’. The panelists dug into tactical advice on how we can teach and measure this critical skillset, as well as suggestions for overcoming the barriers preventing these types of learning opportunities from scaling broadly.
“Design thinking is like a crash course in durable skills”
David Zasada, intuit
The second panel, also moderated by Stephanie Short was ‘Indiana GPS: Transforming the PreK-Career Continuum’. Blurring the lines between education and the workforce is a priority for states across the country, and, America Succeeds is among a growing chorus of partners who believe Indiana is on the leading edge of this work. Alongside Jason Bearce of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Quentin Suffren of ExcelInEd, Rebecca Rahschulte of Ivy Tech Community College, and Jason Callahan Indiana Department of Education, we shared the story of how key stakeholders have collaborated to better prepare students for future success through the launch of the Indiana GPS dashboard.
“We get employers to listen to us by shifting the message: this is not just for students, not just for our economy: it’s fundamental to your company’s bottom line.”
Jason Bearce, Indiana Chamber of Commerce
On Wednesday, we were invited to join American Student Assistance (ASA) for ‘Scaling Gen Z Skill-Building Programming for Young Entrepreneurs’. Led by Julie Lammers of ASA, America Succeeds joined Naomi Thomas of InfinityEdu and Edson Barton of YouScience to discuss the educational experiences that will help the next generation of entrepreneurs succeed. Amidst ample discussion about helping to cultivate student purpose, increasing representation in emerging fields, and access to technical skill building opportunities, all speakers agreed that Durable Skills are a critical component of this work.
“If you’re simply looking in the mirror, you can understand the importance of #durableskills. You can see how you’ve used them in your work, and you want to work with other people that have them.”
Stephanie Short, America Succeeds
Even after all of these thoughtful conversations, our cup was still not full! We had the ability to connect with some of our Network Members like BESTNC, and see a variety of partners in person for the first time in far too long.
And lastly but most certainly not least, we got to meet our friends from CompTIA whom we have been working together with behind the scenes to help announce our rubric creation! The first giant step forward in our #DurableSkills initiative that brings us closer to measuring these foundational skills that continue to show up in millions of jobs.
We have so much to gain from seeing and working together with this innovative culture that combines education, business, and innovation. We are eager to keep building on our takeaways from ASU+GSV 2022 and encourage you to join us.