Sofia Zhang

Challenge

How might we better prepare high school students for the world beyond? In the current educational landscape of the United States, a significant number of high school students find themselves unprepared for the real world. This lack of readiness refers both academic and career preparedness, as well as critical life skills needed to navigate adulthood.

In this project, my team aims to help empower students to confidently navigate their post-secondary paths. Through hands-on activities, real-world applications, and interactive learning, the course covered critical topics like college applications, career readiness, and life skills such as financial literacy.

My role spanned across user research, curriculum design, competitive analysis and market research, learning experience prototyping, and demo class instruction and facilitation.

User Research and Needs Analysis

Through user research, I found critical gaps in life skills, college preparation, and career preparedness among high school students. By conducting primary research and interviews with target audience, I was able to identify the specific barriers students face and translate those findings into actionable insights that guided the design of the Real Talk – Building Essential Life Skills curriculum.

Interview Insights: William’s Perspective

One of the most revealing interviews I conducted was with Mingliang (William), a high school senior at Newton North High School. William shared experiences with his school’s existing career development resources. According to him:

• The career support program provided little more than generic resume templates, with no hands-on guidance or opportunities to personalize his learning.
• Many students at his school were unaware that these resources even existed, leaving them to navigate college and career planning largely on their own.
• The lack of accessible, engaging programming left students feeling unmotivated to explore post-graduation pathways, especially nontraditional routes like trade schools or direct entry into the workforce.

Connecting William’s Experience to the Broader Landscape

William’s story was consistent with the national trends my group identified through secondary research:

• A Gallup and Walton Family Foundation survey found a stark divide between students preparing for college and those who are not, with the latter group reporting disengagement and a lack of optimism for their futures.
• The YouScience Post-Graduation Readiness Report highlighted that 80% of high school graduates felt they would have been more engaged in their education if they had a clearer understanding of their own strengths and career opportunities. These findings mirrored William’s frustration with the absence of tailored career exploration at his school.
• Additionally, ACT data shows that only 21% of 2023 graduates are ready for core college coursework, pointing to the inadequacy of current preparatory measures.

By connecting William’s personal experiences with national data, I was able to ensure that the Real Talk curriculum was student-centered and responsive to the real needs of high schoolers. These findings directly informed the course’s focus on hands-on learning, practical skill-building, and opportunities for career exploration beyond traditional pathways. This approach not only addresses the gaps in existing programs but also ensures that students like William feel empowered and prepared for their futures.

Program Overview

Program Vision

We envision a future where every high school student, regardless of their background, is adequately prepared with the skills and confidence needed to thrive in the rapidly changing job market.

Through the integration of problem-solving, real-world applications, and career readiness exercises, our half-year course will foster curiosity, collaboration, and adaptability in students. Our aim is to allow students to succeed academically, and become critical thinkers, communicators, and lifelong active learners.

In ten years, our vision is to see students from diverse backgrounds entering the workforce or higher education with the skills and mindset to navigate their personal and professional journeys. By then, our program will have expanded across the greater Boston area and beyond, establishing a model for integrating soft skill development, career readiness, and equitable industry exposure.

Target Audience

Our primary target is Title I schools as these schools often see high dropout and low graduation rates. Title 1 schools are schools serving a large percentage of students from low-income families. The course will be offered to all students at the high school. Oftentimes, students receive college advisement in their junior and senior years, but with only a few advisors for hundreds of students, most students are left to do much of the research on their own. This is especially difficult for students who are disengaged from school and lack the motivation to search extensively for copious amounts of information. We want to provide students with a supportive space to prepare them for their chosen postsecondary pathway better. 

Learning Experience Design

Universal Design of Learning (UDL)

We incorporated Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles, aiming to make our curriculum accessible and engaging for all learning styles. This means blending visual aids, interactive group discussions, individual reflection assignments, and role-play exercises to create a varied and supportive environment. Informed by studies on equitable education, we added scaffolds for multilingual learners (MLLs), including translated materials, visual supports, and collaborative work.

Supporting English Language Learners (ELL) and Multilingual Learners (MLL)

We provided additional resources for multilingual learners, including bilingual aids and language support, allowing MLL students to access and fully engage with the content. This aligns with findings that visual supports and the use of cooperative learning enhance comprehension and engagement for multilingual students (ValentinaESL, 2023)​.

Project-based Learning (PBL)

We implemented Project-Based Learning (PBL) to create an engaging, student-centered learning environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, and real-world problem-solving. By anchoring learning experiences in meaningful, hands-on projects, students take ownership of their knowledge construction while developing critical thinking and communication skills.

In the Real Talk project, PBL was applied through activities like the “Know My Life” Storyboard & Identity Chart exercise, where students designed personal identity charts and crafted storyboards reflecting their lived experiences. This approach encouraged self-exploration, peer-to-peer interaction, and empathy-building. The project concluded with student-led presentations, ensuring that learning was interactive, reflective, and deeply personal.

Guided by PBL principles, we also incorporated iterative feedback loops, allowing students to refine their work, engage in meaningful discussions, and co-construct knowledge in an inclusive and supportive learning community.

“Know My Life” Storyboard & Identity Chart Activity

• Students create an Identity Chart reflecting personal values & experiences
• Develop a storyboard of key life moments and present to peers
• Encourages self-expression, peer understanding, and social connections
• Embodied Learning: Using drawings, presentations, and peer discussions

Competitive Analysis

Compared to existing programs like MyCap, Boston Private Industry Council, and One Goal, our Real Talk curriculum does a better overall job of supporting workforce readiness, college readiness, discovering learners interests, and building diverse skills.

Our program also has direct operation within schools, rather than having students seek out those opportunities. Our course guides students through their process of pursuing higher education and prepares them for future careers, while also integrating skill-building with real-world applications. We help students not only to understand the information they need, but also practice that knowledge so that they can be prepared to pursue their interests after graduating high school.

Outreach and Impact

We intend to partner with public schools in the Greater Boston area. With MyCap as a strong example of the need for such content in high schools, we will speak to school administrators to discuss the benefits of providing the students with these resources along with the structured instruction to guide their learning. Starting off in the first semester of our program, we will promote our course through eye-catching flyers on school bulletin boards and spreads in the school newsletter.

After the first year, we will begin to provide course preview sessions and Q&A panels with current high school seniors and past students of the course. We’ll also promote the outcomes we have achieved through infographics through school communication channels: bulletin boards, newsletters, and social media, etc. To spread the word among students, we will be using social media platforms and will encourage current students to post about their classwork and share it with their peers.

We will also have a program social media account where we share student work, notify students of Q&A sessions, and promote the work students do. At the conclusion of each cohort, students will complete a course evaluation to share their experience in the program through honest feedback which will be made available to all students. We believe that students are more compelled to consider their peers’ suggestions compared to those of an instructor. As the program grows, we will invite former students to come back as guest speakers to share any benefits the program has had on their post-secondary transition and experiences.

Scale and Sustainablity

Real Talk will be piloted in local high schools in Suffolk County with plans to expand into surrounding regions of the Greater Boston area. Pursuing the business-to-business route, we will pilot our program in several schools, making improvements along the way, then expand to more schools in the local area. As our program expands, our successes will serve as proof of concept and aid in our growth. Eventually, we hope to partner with school districts which will give our program significant recognition and revenue. With the course requiring few resources to execute, it will likely be sustainable in schools as long as there is sufficient student interest. In addition, we also plan to send out annual check-in surveys to graduated alumni of the schools, who took Real Talk, to track the success of our course in helping their respective post-high school journeys. This will also help us maintain a sustainable alumni network.