Charlie is a first-year student from out of state.  He’s still deciding on a final major, though he is interested in both agriculture and policy.  He just finished his first semester at Iowa State and is looking for ways to meet people after his learning community ended.

As a member of his high school debate and soccer teams, Charlie knows how important both communication and teamwork skills are in his potential career paths.  The Pathways program is a perfect place for him to gain more experience with leadership and professional writing.

Charlie's Pathway

Like all Pathways members, Charlie's journey started with the Discovery so he could get a better understanding of what the Pathways program has to offer.  He found that the Self-Development, Written Communication, and Collaboration badges would help him best, and he completed the Innovation and Leadership Connections, badge by the end of his first year.  

With the help of his academic advisor, Charlie decided on two majors and became very busy with coursework, so he did not pursue the Pathways program further.  However, his experienced helped him learn a lot about himself as a future leader, and he earned digital badges that showed that he was now ready to take on more ambitious roles!

Alice is a second-year student studying life sciences.  She has always been a high achiever in classes and just started working in a research lab for the first time.  She is excited and honored to contribute to scientific knowledge with her professor and grad students in the lab.

Being new to the research process, Alice sometimes feels like she doesn’t yet have the tools to “think outside the box” and wants to improve her mental flexibility.  She joined the Pathways program to focus on leveling-up her critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Alice's Pathway

When Alice completed her CliftonStrengths Assessment (she got the code from a book in her first swag bag), she didn't anticipate she would resonate so strongly with her top five strengths: Achiever, Learner, Responsibility, Competition, and Developer.  Writing her strengths summary while completing the Discovery badge changed the way she saw herself, and she gained a new confidence in her ability to succeed both in and outside the classroom.  Because she enjoyed the Discovery so much, she decided to continue with the Pathways program until she had earned the top-level Innovator + Leader badge!  As a strong "achiever", this felt like the natural path for her.

Alice was able to incorporate her research experience into the Connections badges (including Self-Development,  Critical Thinking, and Creative Problem-Solving) to really deepen her understanding of herself as an innovator and leader plus the skills she was building every day.  She developed close friendships with several other hard-working students through Pathways events and teamed up with them to complete the Change badge in the spring term.  Their project focused on making the achievements of undergraduate researchers more visible and public.  She and her teammates presented their findings at the annual Pathways Showcase and received awards (and scholarships!) for their accomplishments.

Sammy is in their fourth year at Iowa State and only has one semester left before graduating!  They took extra writing classes for fun and visited career services several times for job-searching advice, so they’re confident in their ability to write their resume and cover letters.

Scrolling friends’ LinkedIn pages has become a new hobby as Sammy searches for inspiration to polish their own profile.  Noticing an entry in the “Licenses & certifications” section, the “Show credential” link led them to a detailed description of all their friend had done to earn a digital badge in Information Literacy.  Sammy was impressed!

Thinking that having a few digital badges would give them a boost when submitting applications, Sammy searched online and found that their own college offers several badges for free, and in skills they knew employers were seeking!

Sammy's Pathway

Because Sammy was focused on finishing classes, they weren't interested in committing to extra responsibilities so they picked the Collaboration and Creative Problem-Solving skills to refine.  They really appreciated that their current activities (peer mentorship, book club leadership, and crocheting) could be used to support their learning through the Pathways program.

Charlie, Alice, and Sammy are fictional students we invented to share some of the opportunities offered and supported by the Pathways to Innovation and Leadership program.

Any of these student experiences could be similar to your own, and we'd love to share your story one day!