High school students, student success coaches, and faculty attended the Future-Ready Career Night at Riverview High School in April 2025. Provided photo.

When it comes to preparing young people for their future, the path forward is rarely straight. Just as the workforce is shifting in ways few could have predicted a decade ago, a student’s journey is filled with detours, unexpected barriers, and surprising opportunities. To meet these realities, we, as educators, families, nonprofits, and community leaders, must practice what leadership experts call adaptive leadership: the ability to learn as we go, adjust to change, and create solutions that meet people where they are.

That is the spirit behind the launch of the Future-Ready Scholars Program, a new initiative designed by the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. This program was not created as a one-size-fits-all solution, but as a living framework that grows alongside our students. Instead of assuming the future will look the same as the past, we are equipping students with the mindsets, relationships, and supports they will need to thrive in a world defined by rapid change.

Consider Maya (name changed for privacy). A rising senior in Sarasota County, Maya always excelled in the classroom but carried the weight of being the first in her family to even imagine college. The sheer number of decisions—what courses to take, what careers to explore, how to pay for it all—felt overwhelming. What she needed wasn’t just academic advice; she needed someone to listen, to guide, and to remind her she had the strength to take the next step.

Through Future-Ready Scholars, Maya was paired with a mentor who walked alongside her as she explored her interests in healthcare. Together, they mapped a flexible path with room for adjustments along the way. At first, Maya’s dream was to attend a traditional four-year university, but she also discovered opportunities to begin her journey either through State College of Florida or Suncoast Technical College—pathways that offered strong healthcare programs, affordable tuition, and a chance to start building real-world experience more quickly. Through this process, she explored various healthcare careers, financial aid resources, and, perhaps most importantly, her own confidence. Adaptive leadership looks like that: listening deeply, responding creatively, and building support systems that empower individuals to move forward despite uncertainty.

Maya’s story illustrates how leadership in education must evolve. We cannot rely solely on static programs or top-down strategies; we must continually adjust to the shifting needs of our students and the demands of the world they are entering. That means nonprofits acting as conveners, schools opening doors to community partnerships, and businesses recognizing the role they play in preparing the next generation of workers and leaders.

In many ways, the challenges facing today’s students mirror the challenges facing Sarasota as a community. We are all asked to adapt—to shifting demographics, emerging industries, and changing expectations of what it takes to thrive in the 21st-century economy.

As community members, each of us has a role to play. Perhaps it is offering an internship, volunteering time, contributing resources, or simply being the kind of adult who takes interest in a student’s journey. Adaptive leadership is practiced whenever one person, regardless of titles, leans in to help another navigate change.

Maya’s future is still unfolding, as it should. But thanks to a community willing to innovate and adapt she, and hundreds of students like her, are better prepared to meet whatever comes next. And in that preparation lies the hope not just for their future, but for the future of Sarasota itself.

Jennifer Vigne is the President and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.

High school students, student success coaches, and faculty attended the Future-Ready Career Night at Riverview High School in April 2025. Provided photo.

To learn more click here