What the Class of 2025 Really Needs to Hear: Purpose Over Platitudes

We’ve all sat through those graduation speeches—ones delivered by prestigious mentor figures who supposedly have it all figured out, full of hype and platitudes meant to make students feel like the world is at their fingertips, but lacking actionable advice for next steps after graduation. And we don’t really remember a word of them, because as young adults at pivotal moments in our lives, we needed more than a speech.

The world this year’s grads are walking into is faster, messier and more uncertain than ever. Technology is rewriting industries. College costs more and is less likely to lead to a single, lifelong career, as it once did. This graduating class is facing:

• Record levels of anxiety and depression
• An uncertain job market powered by automation and AI
• A future in which an estimated 70% of the jobs they will hold one day don’t exist yet

The old script—get good grades, pick a major, land a job—hasn’t held up for some time. This graduation season, students don’t need hype. They need a compass.

Building Strengths Along a Purposeful Path

Career readiness too often starts with, “What do you want to do?” instead of, “Who are you becoming?” Students are often given frameworks about majors and money, but rarely the tools to explore their interests, use their strengths professionally, or meaningfully address the problems they care about.

This—a toolbox of personal and worldly exploration—is purpose. It’s the engine behind drive, engagement and resilience in school and beyond. When students connect with their interests and purpose, everything else comes into focus. In fact, a strong sense of purpose is correlated with a number of positive outcomes that can help students thrive in school and beyond, including:

• Increased academic self-regulation and engagement
• Preventative psychological health support, reducing the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors
• Improved physiological health, leading to greater life satisfaction and even a longer lifespan

As we teach students to live purposefully, commit to their interests and succeed by developing their strengths, we must consider common pitfalls and misconceptions. For instance, we have to help them understand that purpose is ever-evolving—that it’s natural for it to shift over time. Moreover, if pursuing a single cause or interest becomes detrimental, a timely pivot can keep them aligned with their values even more so than a stubbornly unwavering commitment. Incorporating these considerations into purpose learning helps students pursue their goals with intentionality and care.

Your Why Is More Important Than Your What

The two of us have both taken unexpected paths. Neither of us followed a straight line.

Initially planning to become a doctor, Mike realized the hospital setting didn’t match his strengths or interests. Instead, he followed his passion for storytelling and exploration, hitting the road in a green RV with friends to interview people about how they found fulfilling careers. After seeing how many young people lacked exposure to diverse career paths, he co-founded Roadtrip Nation to share those stories. Today, the nonprofit partners with schools and other mission-driven organizations to create media, curricula and road trip journeys that help millions of students discover their interests and pursue their own paths.

Patrick zigzagged his way toward entrepreneurship from the lacrosse fields at Brown University to human rights advocacy across Southeast Asia and classroom teaching in Oakland, CA. Following a perceived need for more purposeful K-12 education, he designed a program that equips students with the tools to manage their well-being and make values-driven decisions. Beginning as a semester-long course for high schoolers, Wayfinder has grown into a full PreK-12 curriculum, helping students connect academics to their passions and build the skills to shape their futures.

What got us through wasn’t a perfect plan—it was staying connected to what mattered. Thanks to that, we are now pleased to be among the business leaders working to drive meaningful change in the world through purpose-powered organizations.

When students know themselves and their Why, they don’t need to have everything figured out; they just need a direction. The specifics—college, job titles, majors—can and will change. What sticks is personal purpose and a commitment to making the most of our interests and values.

Rethinking Readiness for the Class of 2025

Today's students need post-graduation options that are relevant, flexible and aligned with their purpose. College is one of many great options for helping them grow their interests and develop their skills. Exposing them to even more only enhances their understanding of how they can craft meaningful paths for their lives. 

Accordingly, we need to redefine graduation readiness in a way that accounts for more than just the academic readiness needed for college. Our new definition of readiness must include helping build inter- and intrapersonal skills that last, like:

• Self-awareness
• Empathy
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Agency
• Purpose

These are not “extras.” They are the essential, mutually reinforcing and professionally in-demand skills for navigating a world we can’t fully predict.

The Call We Never Heard—but Students Still Can

This year, instead of asking graduates “What’s next?”, ask them, “What matters most to you and how can you get involved?” Instead of pushing students toward prestige, help them pursue meaning through their interests. Let’s make purpose a new starting point—for the class of 2025 and beyond. It’s not too late to give this generation the advice we never got.