Amori, Eccleston Elementary Student: School is the best. School is the best in the whole world. You're supposed to be smart. Welcome to today with Maria. Welcome to Mondays with Maria.

Announcer: Presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Here's OCPS Superintendent Dr. Maria Vazquez.

Dr. Vazquez: Oh, my goodness. Amori, you are absolutely correct. School is the best. Amari is in kindergarten at Eccleston Elementary. Hi everyone. We're getting things started today with a conversation about "What I want to be when I grow up." Take a look.

Eccleston Elementary Students:

“I want to be a doctor because it's like it's the favorite thing to help your mom and dad.” -Rachel

“Police officer. Because I need to save the world.” -Joseph

“I want to be a doctor when I grow up because I like to be a doctor because we could do ultrasounds, even. We can be and go in the body and do the blood pressure.” -Amori

Dr. Vazquez: Oh my gosh, that was just adorable. Joining me now at the table to talk about what we call a "Portrait of a Graduate" is Dr. Harold Border, our Chief Strategy Officer, along with Karla Owens and Robert Palmer from our Academic Services team. So, you heard our little kindergartners tell us what they want to be when they grow up. How does that factor in to help a child find a path forward?

Dr. Border: Well, good morning everyone. What a segue. I mean, that just paints a picture. Every one of our students has dreams, goals, and aspirations. Our Portrait of a Graduate is designed to make sure all of our students are going to be prepared, inspired, and empowered to thrive whenever they leave Orange County Public Schools. And so, that Portrait of a Graduate has nine elements. In addition to, of course, being academically and mathematically sound, we've brought in the elements that the industry sector leaders with whom we collaborated and our board emphasized as being important for a well-rounded education. All of our students are going to be successful whether they go to the university, the workplace, or the military. We want all of our students to be great communicators—they're off to a great start. We want them to be critical thinkers and able to make sound decisions. We also want all of our students to be personally and socially responsible.

Dr. Border: We also want our students to have the skills to be consummate professionals in all of their endeavors, to explore industry certification pathways, and to have bilingual skills. We also want all of our students to have a personalized post-secondary plan so that no matter what they want to be—a doctor, a police officer, whatever the case—they can begin taking advantage of opportunities from K through 12, building and exploring those opportunities so they are ready for success. The Portrait of a Graduate is that North Star for us that will guide everything we do within OCPS.

Dr. Vazquez: So, all these skills—what we want our students to leave our OCPS K-12 system with—that's got to start before high school. Right? Because when I'm having conversations, you know, they're talking about what they're going to do in that pathway when they're in high school. So, Mr. Palmer, are there key areas or pivotal grade levels that are important as our children are looking at the path before them?

Mr. Palmer: Absolutely. As you mentioned, a lot of the exposure and the preparation for that pathway after they leave our hands in OCPS starts early on, and that includes elementary school. You know, we talked about Amori's video and her wanting to become a doctor, and how cute and amazing that was. But it's about elementary school students having that exposure so they can be more intentional once they get into high school. Thinking about sixth and eighth grade as key points where they're not only able to take some high school-level coursework and prepare for their plans after high school and earn industry certifications as Dr. Border mentioned, but also really utilize their time in middle school with eighth grade to identify a four-year plan that sets them up for success in high school. So, by the time they graduate, they can either enroll, enlist, employ, or explore.

Dr. Vazquez: So, we have so many offerings and choices for our children. Right? I have grandchildren, and I remember when my children were looking at what pathway they were going to take. It's nowhere near all the options we have now. So, Karla, there's got to be some place where kids and their families can start exploring these options. I know we have something that's going to help them.

Ms. Owens: Yes, we do. We have a program called Xello. It is a K-12 online college and career preparedness tool that you can use starting in kindergarten. Starting with Amori, we can get her started on becoming that doctor and doing ultrasounds, but it does lead them to pursue those post-secondary goals, whether it's to go to college, to join the military, to attend a technical college, or to go straight into the workforce right after high school.

Dr. Vazquez: So I love that we have a tool that our students and our families can access. And by the way, for those of you watching, it sounds like it starts with a “Z” for Xello, but it does not. It's XELLO. It's great that we have the tool. But sometimes the technology aspect doesn't meet everyone's needs. So, what are some other avenues that students and families can take advantage of?

Mr. Palmer: Yeah. Dr. Vazquez, as you mentioned, Xello with a "X" is a great tool for our students and families, but we know it's also important to have that personal interaction. That's where our school counselors, and at the high school level, our college and career specialists can be so vital in setting them up for success, so they can actually reach the post-secondary plan that they aspire to.

Dr. Vazquez: Great. So, for our listeners, those watching, we want to make sure Xello is a great tool for you to start exploring and tap into your counselor or your college and career specialist. So, I'm going to bring it back to where we started, right? So, Dr. Border, our conversation started around the Portrait of a Graduate. So why is that so important?

Dr. Border: So, the Portrait of a Graduate, Dr. Vazquez, is vitally important. It's being cascaded across the organization. The first few weeks, it's going to galvanize us and unify—take our unification even to a higher level—as we all collaborate together to make sure all of our students have those nine elements as they progress through school and when they graduate. It's that beacon out there flashing in the distance that will call us back to our strategic plan, which has five key performance indicators for our success over the next five years, two of which are the state assessment outcomes and satisfying all the elements of the portrait of a graduate. But also, so that all of our students attend school and engage in their academics, that we recruit and retain the very best staff members, and that we remain the top choice for education across central Florida, which we are. We embrace competition, and this will help ensure that we stay at the top of our game and ensure that the opportunities we provide for our students are unparalleled as families make choices for the education of their children. Yeah.

Dr. Vazquez: What a great way to start our year. This has been a great conversation, and I hope that it's helped our families understand how we prepare, inspire, and empower students. And we're just getting started. Thank you for joining me today. And thank you for watching. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. We'll have more on our podcast. Just go to wherever you get your podcast and search for Mondays with Maria. Have a great week.

Announcer: For an extended conversation on today's topic. Listen to the Mondays with Maria podcast available wherever you get your podcasts. Mondays with Maria is presented by Addition Financial Credit Union. Count us in for every step of your financial journey. Learn more at Additionfi.com. For more OCPS news and information, visit TheSlice.OCPS.net. I'm your announcer, Emily Hannon, a student at Audubon Park School. Thanks for watching, and have a great week.