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Philomath SD 17J community workshop produces candidate "portrait of a graduate" statements and plans June follow-up
Summary
About 13 district staff, board members and community participants brainstormed and clustered qualities for a "Portrait of a Graduate," producing six candidate anchors (including "thrivehood," "critical thinking," "empathy," "strong work ethic," "collaborative," and "citizenship") and agreeing to refine language ahead of a June meeting.
About 13 participants gathered in a Philomath SD 17J workshop to draft a "Portrait of a Graduate," synthesizing sticky-note ideas into six candidate statements and agreeing on next steps for refining the language.
The session opened with the facilitator apologizing for not circulating a promised community survey and laying out the exercise: recall a recent former student, pull out qualities that made that student successful, cluster ideas on a gallery board, then synthesize a single word or brief statement to represent a desirable graduate attribute. "I owe you an apology," the facilitator said. "I promised you that I would do a community survey between last time and this time. I didn't do that... but we're just gonna do a search through and process, and we're gonna do portrait of a graduate first." (Moderator)
Why it matters: The workshop aimed to convert classroom- and community‑level observations into language that can guide district priorities and communication about what graduates should know and be able to do. Participants emphasized both dispositions (resilience, empathy, grit) and skills (critical thinking, literacy, independent living), and stressed that the final portrait should be concise words with supporting bullet points so it is usable across schools.
Key takeaways
- Multiple candidate anchors. Groups presented six primary candidate descriptors: a coined term "thrivehood" (defined by one group as "a state of well-being, self agency, and joyful engagement with life"), a "critical thinking" statement ("students that graduate from PSD will have the ability to process and analyze information with a sense of curiosity"), "empathy," "strong work ethic," "collaborative," and "citizenship." The "thrivehood" group summarized: "Our stickies were initiative, clean lifestyle, sense of humor, ability to play and enjoy life, healthy willingness, independence, growth mindset, self compassion, self respect, feel successful, contentment, self worth." (Presenter)
- Overlap between skills and dispositions. Several participants noted overlap across groups: literacy and foundational academic skills were seen as implicit supports for other attributes, while items such as adaptability, initiative and agency were framed as both personal dispositions and teachable practices.
- Process and next steps. Participants favored a hybrid approach: the facilitator will compile and lightly polish the raw cluster language into a draft document and slide deck, then the group will solicit additional community input before finalizing priority statements. The facilitator laid out possible timelines and noted a follow-up meeting in early June to review the draft and accompanying community data; participants flagged an honors-event scheduling conflict that had moved one related event to June 3, so the June date is to be confirmed.
Quotes and attributions are drawn only from speakers captured in the session. The facilitator emphasized both the practical constraints and the iterative approach: "I will clean up the text and get it all into a document so we can work with it... this is your portrait of a graduate, so it should be your work." (Moderator)
What was not decided: The group did not adopt a final statement or formally vote on priorities. Several teams said their draft definitions would benefit from further wordsmithing; participants suggested forming a small coalition to refine language and to gather broader community feedback before final adoption.
Next procedural steps and timeline
- The facilitator will produce a consolidated draft (slide and document) from the sticky-note clusters and share it with participants for review. - The group discussed reconvening in early June to review the draft along with community and district situational data; a specific date will be confirmed considering other local events.
The workshop closed with thanks and an agreement to continue the drafting process, leaving the task of final wording and community outreach for follow-up sessions.
