Nashoba Portrait of A Graduate - Voices of Nashoba

2023

NASHOBA REGIONAL SCHOOL DISTRICT

Bolton, Lancaster, Stow Massachusetts

Be your best self.

Pave your path.

Impact the world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2

Table of Contents

3-4

Portrait of a Graduate

5-7

Alumni Voices

8

Communication

9

Creativity

10

Culturally Competent Global Citizen

11

Perseverance

12

Empathy

13

Learner's Mindset

14-18

Looking Forward

19

Voices of Nashoba Video

WHAT ARE OUR SIX PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE COMPETENCIES? CREATIVITY (1) Demonstrate originality, imagination, and new ways of thinking about things. (2) Transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, and relationships to create new or meaningful ideas, methods, or interpretations. (3) Translate original and inventive thinking into viable solutions. (4) Take risks and know how to develop, organize, and manage new initiatives and/or ventures.

COMMUNICATION (1) Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written, and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts. (2) Listen effectively to decipher meaning, including knowledge, values, attitudes, and intentions. (3) Use communication for a range of purposes and audiences (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate, and persuade) (4) Seek, contribute, and respond to feedback to achieve collective outcomes.

PERSEVERANCE (1) Exhibit steadfastness in achieving success despite difficulty, opposition, and/or failure. (2) Embrace the idea that failure is a part of success and quickly pivot to keep moving forward. (3) Identify, evaluate, and prioritize solutions to difficult or complex situations. (4) Apply disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.

WHAT ARE OUR SIX PORTRAIT OF A GRADUATE COMPETENCIES? EMPATHY (1) Demonstrate awareness, sensitivity, concern, and respect to connect with others’ feelings, opinions, experiences, and culture. (2) Imagine what others are thinking, feeling, or experiencing. (3) Vicariously experience the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of others. (4) Understand the “bigger picture” and be mindful of the impact solutions may have on other parts of the system.

Culturally Competent Global Citizen (1) Value and embrace diverse cultures and unique perspectives through mutual respect and open dialogue. (2) Demonstrate personal, civic, social, local, and global responsibility through ethical and empathetic behaviors. (3) Contribute and take action to make the world a better place. (4) Elicit diverse perspectives and contributions. (5) Honor and leverage strengths to build collective commitment and action.

LEARNER'S MINDSET (1) Embrace curiosity to experience new ideas. (2) Possess the desire to learn, unlearn, and relearn. (3) Find and maximize opportunities to actively listen and elicit diverse perspectives from others. (4) Develop positive attitudes and beliefs about learning. (5) Consistently improve the quality of one’s own thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing.

(6) Enrich the learning of both self and others. (7) Implement and reflect critically on a solution.

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND What our Portrait of A Nashoba Graduate competencies mean for our current students and,

what they will mean for our future students,

we turned to our NRSD alumni to ask what they meant to them.

78 Nashoba graduates were asked to name

the top 3 competencies that they developed during their time at Nashoba

WHAT DID ALUMNI HAVE TO SAY? Of the 78 responses, Nashoba alumni felt that they had most strongly developed their ability to communicate effectively (30.4%), persevere (20.7%) and maintain a learner's mindset (20.7%), during their time at Nashoba. Slightly fewer graduates felt that they had developed empathy (18.5%), and creativity (8.7%), while very few students felt they had strongly developed their ability to be a culturally competent global citizen (1.1%).

Culturally Competent Global Citizen 1.1% Learner's Mindset 20.7%

Empathy 18.5%

Creativity 8.7%

Communication 30.4% Perseverance 20.7%

ALUMNI VOICES

"After graduating and entering the job force I realized how important it is to have great communication, connections to teachers/professors that helped me, and the willingness to take opportunity to learn while putting my own voice & creativity into it. I think my time at Nashoba really helped me in college take initiative more!"

COMMUNICATION

Alyssa Curran '18 "Being someone that can effectively communicate, and doing so in a professional matter when needed will get you pretty far by itself. I think I improved this skill at Nashoba through my constant work with other students/teachers promoted by the type of teaching/curriculum we had in place that fostered group/team work."

Connor Jesson '17 "You may have as many skills as the... person you may be competing for an employment spot... but if you are able to communicate well, get your ideas across and put yourself out there and show your personality that will set you apart from others."

Patrick Arsenault '21 "I think being a good communicator is supported by confidence, even if we aren't sure what we're asking or how to do so, it builds a lot of confidence to communicate feelings, intentions, goals, and ask questions as well."

Abbie McCaffrey '14 "Students need to be able to advocate for themselves."

Erin McNemar '17

ALUMNI VOICES

CREATIVITY Alyssa Curran '18 Global Marketing & Communications "Creativity is a big one! Especially within the business program at Nashoba, I was able to channel and use my skills throughout the DECA projects which led me to where I am today! ...

After graduating and entering the job force I realized how important it is to have great communication, connections to teachers/professors that helped me, and willingness to take opportunity to learn while putting my own voice & creativity into it."

Elena Naze '19 Journalism/TV Production "I don’t think you can really be taught creativity, but I also think all my English teachers and any teachers in more of an arts path did a good job of fostering an environment where we could be creative on assignments."

CULTURALLY COMPETENT GLOBAL CITIZENS

"Cultural competency, recognizing that we don't come from an excessively diverse place and it's important to understand the impact that has on your mindset... it's OK to ask questions as long as you're truly trying to understand other cultures and perspectives. " Megan Erdman '15

"Recognising the vast diversity of the world -- NRSD is not very diverse (at least when I was a student) and I don't think I fully realised that until I went to MIT and met people from more varying backgrounds."

Madeline Jenkins '13

"The ability to look past your own perspective into the lives of others and understanding that different is not the same as bad, despite how human brains initially react."

Anna Cressman '18

ALUMNI VOICES

"Perseverance - life is hard. Good things don't come easy.

You must be able to take punches off the chin and keep going."

PERSEVERANCE

Erin Cressman '15 " The world is complicated & there’s a lot of difficult problems that will need to be solved by our generations. Perseverance will be the only way we solve these problems, since complicated problems often require complicated solutions to fix."

Sara (Palis) DeGironimo '12 "Self-motivation, many more doors are opened to people who want to try to go above and beyond.... The ability to act autonomously and with self-agency will allow one to stand out and behave honestly even when that is different."

Ryan Gumbart '13 "Everyone will face adversity at some point whether it be rejection from a sports team or college, failing a test, not getting a role in a school play... But I think an important lesson that comes out of these setbacks is your response to that... [F]ailure at one thing will only point you in the right direction moving forward. " Kayla Gaidos '16

ALUMNI VOICES

EMPATHY Caitlin Vasington '18

Law "It is critically important but often undervalued, especially to those who grow up in privilege, to be self aware... [Y]ou need to take time to understand your strengths and your flaws, and the ways that your environment has shaped who you are as a person.

If you surround yourself by people who only tell you what you want to hear, you will be incapable of relating to, and working with, those who don’t agree with you or share your experiences.

The vast majority of the world didn’t grow up in Bolton, Stow, and Lancaster, and therefore it is important for you to be able to understand how that has impacted you and the ways that you understand the world around you."

Megan Erdman '15 Psychology/Criminal Justice

"Empathy, as a 'grown up' I realize that everyone grew up differently, something may not impact you but it may impact someone you care about. Support them, love them, help them, be a voice for them."

ALUMNI VOICES

LEARNER'S MINDSET

"I’ve developed a learner’s mindset, where I am able to make connections... I’ve heard a lot about 'When am I going to use this in my life?' But the reality is that while you may not use it, it’s a good way to expand your critical thinking and knowledge."

Thomas Babu '22 "College is a challenge if you pick the right school and you can’t be afraid to fail because you only worry about grades.

Kids need to care more about how they learn, how to overcome a challenge, rather than being so grade driven. " Margaret Hagopian '17 "Growth mindset is important - always know that you can do better or [that] things will get better... [B]usinesses can hire anyone to do x,y,z but if you have good problem solving skills you’ll be a bigger asset."

Melissa Duggan '19 "Having a 'learner's mindset' allows for the continuous improvement of skills. Showing employers you're willing to absorb new information and learn new skills allows you to always have something new to bring to the team. You do not want to be the one on the team that only brings a singular specific skill to the table."

Will Adams '15

Looking Forward...

What did

NRSD graduates think was the most important for current students?

ALUMNI VOICES

"Open mindedness, authenticity, and self-motivation can get students really far in a world looking for self starters that they can trust to get the work done well. " Andrea LaBonte '15 "Communication, Curiosity, Collaboration"

LOOKING FORWARD

Andrea DeLisle '14 "I had many teachers who listened to and respected me and other students and allow[ed] us to choose our own paths.

The staff had always valued our own interests first and never pushed for us to be someone else. Be who you want to be, do what you want to do. " Andrew Malone '14 "Learn to be opened minded and to be careful what you say online... the Nashoba population is mostly a white school and when going into the real world, whether working or going to college, people and companies will do a check about what you say or post and it can negatively impact your career and life."

Arushi Ahmed '16 "You're going to have to communicate regardless of where you end up. Communication is one of those tools that will help make a lot of things easier in the long run."

Asha Patel '19 "[Students] will need communication and a learner's mindset to develop relationships with their professors."

Audrey Arsenault '21 "I think something that would really help students in high school before entering college specifically is continuing classes that can open students' minds to majors that don’t pertain to generic core classes."

Katie Bateman '21 "Work ethic and financial skills. --Two very important parts of life after school."

Billy McHugh '15

ALUMNI VOICES

"Empathy, Communication, and Culturally Competent Global Citizen - The world is constantly changing and no matter where students end up they will need to interact with the people around them and they will be the most successful if they are equipped to communicate well, and practice empathy in every interaction."

Caitlin Murch '19

LOOKING FORWARD

"Work ethic, adaptability, leadership."

Daniel Kilkenny '16 "Becoming more independent, organization, [and] being productive."

Danielle Dietel '21 "Empathy, teamwork, and motivation."

Delaney Douglas '13 "Determination (be able to push yourself), open minded (open to new situations and new opportunities), learner's mindset ."

Dominic Stolfi '18 "I believe making a kind/good impression on everyone you meet is so important because having connections all over the globe can help you succeed in unimaginable ways, and gives you the support and confidence you need to be a flourishing and professional young adult."

Ella Lemieux '19 "Communication. My brother is a current student at Nashoba right now and and I would love to see him gain more confidence in things like writing emails, especially formal ones to teachers, etc. Their generation has grown up with social media, and I think their comfort level with writing and communicating formally is even lower than it was for my generation."

Erika Rohrberg '15 "Open minds, lower expectations, broader points of views, don’t focus on where you want to be focus on where you are. " George Tierney '15 "Communication, work ethic, professionalism."

Hadley O'Sullivan '19

"Cultural Competency, strong sense of empathy, and communication."

ALUMNI VOICES

Jacqueline Marie Kalinowski '14 "Communication, self-discipline, perseverance."

LOOKING FORWARD

John Kilgo '13 "On top of time management, I’d stress giving students mandatory life skills: financial literacy, self-advocacy, navigating communication: feedback and selfassessments, cooking and cleaning, taxes, networking, home repair, scheduling and leading meetings in Outlook, etc. and coding…it’s invaluable in the current workforce and makes applicants stand out. " Jane Rucinski '12 "Emotional growth, intrinsic reinforcement, and community."

Jessica Lemay '12 "Enforcing the importance of a healthy work-life/school-life balance needs to be taught more."

Jillian Szcesuil '18 "More of a focus on arts and options after high school besides college - I think students feel funneled into college and for some it may not be the right path. Also, I don’t think Nashoba developed much of a cultural competence for me, but it’s hard to genuinely do that when the community itself is not racially diverse."

Kiran Reed '14 "Global citizenship."

Mike Sanzio '15 "I find that being critically open minded is necessary for everything from daily life to career progression, no matter your discipline. Being open to new ideas, while not leaving common sense and critical thinking behind, will introduce one to possibilities , opportunities, and relationships they never considered before."

Miranda Clack '21 "Learner's Mindset in order to succeed in undergraduate studies. Leadership to take an active role in future endeavors."

Natalie Bettez '15

ALUMNI VOICES

"Something that is important for students to hear during their time at Nashoba is that although it is important to be excited to graduate, don’t get too far ahead of yourself...

Make every day at Nashoba matter and be happy once you finally pass the finish line."

Phillip Lyle '22

LOOKING FORWARD

"Cultural competency, empathy, and communication."

Rachel Patten '13 "Don't jump into things, the world is full of opinions and pressure from society. Some people aren’t ready immediately. " Sam Pappas '15 "Perseverance, empathy, learner's mindset. All are important in development of adulthood. If you have these you can do so much."

Samia Stetson '13 "Skill stacking has benefited me greatly. Not the best at any one skill, but having competency in a cluster of relevant skills leads to being the 'best in the world' in your position."

Samuel Kirschbaum '13 "Learning how to talk to people and how to act professional in difficult situations is key. " Sarah Cournoyer '15 "Further emphasis on true inclusivity is so important to learn early on. My major is based on inclusion and the value of what I have learned is one of the most important things I know today. For example, watching old videos of what inclusion was thought to be and being taught to pick and critique the media on relevance is a skill that all students should have, as well as learning about inclusive language."

Sarah Leonard '22 "Communication [and] cultural awareness. Many people from small towns don't fully comprehend the cultural diversity of a place like Boston."

Stephanie Dodge '13 "Creativity is something I think students could use to flourish.

Outside of the box thinking is critical to success in college and in the work force. " William Sprague '17

VOICES OF A GRADUATE www.youtube.com/voicesofagraduate