Introducing...High Five Your Life
What it is, who it helps
High Five Your Life, a program of Youthentity, is a career discovery and financial planning workshop and tool that helps students make informed decisions about their future. High Five Your Life works with students and their families to help students identify careers that interest them, plot out their projected income for each career choice, and understand and quantify their future expenses, including repaying back any debt that includes their passion and the financial realities of career decisions and postsecondary education and training.
As the world becomes more specialized and many students become disengaged with the prospect of going to college at all, it is imperative that students are introduced to - and have a chance to explore - a variety of careers that offer a living wage and upward career opportunities, particularly in the Aspen to Parachute region. And, because postsecondary education and training can be expensive, students should understand the costs so they can avoid taking on too much debt that could prohibit their full participation in the community and our economy, whether it's starting their family, owning a home, not being able to purchase health insurance, etc.
Additionally, many of our region's Latino teens will be the first in their generation to go to college and, together with their parents, share a lack of understanding of how to navigate decisions regarding college and postsecondary training. The burden is placed on the students to try to explain this complex and high-stakes decision to their parents while trying to collect information and navigate this process themselves. These first-generation students need additional and targeted support to successfully enter and complete a postsecondary program.
In the next few months, we hope to accomplish the following:
• Schedule and implement a program pilot at Roaring Fork High School and Liberty Classical with sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
• Pilot program with Latino students and their parents.
• Launch or schedule an additional program pilot at a second school or program (i.e., PreCollegiate or other youth programs).
Discover the program's strengths and re-work any weaknesses.
During the program’s pilot, Youthentity will use learnings to develop a plan for scalability similar to I Am Financial Knowledge (Youthentity's statewide I Am Financial Knowledge personal financial literacy. Our hope for High Five is to show students that college - or any career pathway - is attainable and to provide goals to work toward.