Congratulations to this year's graduates!

Graduation season is upon us, and more than 3.1 million students will earn their college degrees in 2010. Its also a census year, we're in a challenging economy, and a lot of folks are thinking the ways of old are gone for good. The census data will tell us a lot about where we are now, but not necessarily much about where we are going.

Yesterday I and 23 of my Pinnacol peers had the opportunity to volunteer with Junior Achievement at a local elementary school. Pinnacol's CEO, Ken Ross, has been active in JA for some time and based on his lead I thought I'd give it a try. I partnered up with Danielle, one of our corporate Training Specialists because the thought of facing 20-30 2nd graders alone was too much for my poor heart to take. Being the smart, intelligent person I think I am, I went right for the best: who better to help me teach than one of our corporate trainers? We did JA In A Day, which is where you teach five modules in one day rather than over the course of several weeks. The kids were awesome, Danielle was fabulous, the teacher was great, and I got through my part without looking like a complete idiot. Not a bad day of volunteering all in all!

Part of the message Junior Achievement tries to communicate to the kids is the value of staying in school. The second graders we were teaching have a lot of schooling ahead of them. By contrast, the 3.1 million 2010 graduates are now ready to transition from the classroom to the workplace. The data from the last census in 2000 strongly supported the idea that Higher Education pays off in terms of earning potential:

The data, which will soon be updated with this year's Census, indicated that over an adult's working life, high school graduates could expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor's degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master's degree, $2.5 million. Current data shows the value of education reflected in the unemployment rate: for those with college degrees unemployment is hovering at around 5%, for those without it is almost double. So encouraging kids to stay in school was an easy message to believe in as we shared it with the students we met yesterday. Those second graders  represent the class of 2024 and I have no idea what the world will look like when they graduate. What I do know is that the graduating class of 2010 will be instrumental in shaping that future world. So congratulations on your academic achievements, and we look forward to working with you in the years to come!