Pathfinder Guidebook · FYE 100 Module 1 · Your Pathfinder Journey Begins
10 Essential Skills in this module
  • 1Communication
  • 5Adaptability & Leadership
  • 6Professionalism
  • 10Information Literacy
Lesson 1.2

The 10 Essential Skills

What Kentucky says every college graduate should be able to do, and where you're headed.

About 4 minutes 2 of 8 in this module

Every college in Kentucky's public system, including OCTC, uses the same framework to describe what a college education should develop in you. It's called the Kentucky Graduate Profile, and at its center are 10 Essential Skills.

These are the skills that show up in every job posting, every performance review, and every meaningful challenge you'll face after college. FYE 100 is built around them.

Go to the source

Read the full Kentucky Graduate Profile (opens in a new tab) from the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

The 10 Essential Skills

You'll use every one of these well beyond the classroom.

  1. 1

    Communication

    Listening carefully, responding clearly, and expressing your ideas in writing, conversation, and presentations in ways that land.

  2. 2

    Critical & Creative Thinking

    Questioning assumptions, evaluating information, and coming up with new ideas or better solutions instead of accepting the first answer.

  3. 3

    Quantitative Reasoning

    Using numbers and data to make sense of problems and reach informed conclusions, whether that's a budget, a chart, or a statistic in the news.

  4. 4

    Interpersonal Relations

    Understanding yourself and others, and working respectfully with people who think, live, and communicate differently than you do.

  5. 5

    Adaptability & Leadership

    Adjusting when things change, staying effective under pressure, and helping others move toward a goal, even when you're not in charge.

  6. 6

    Professionalism

    Acting with integrity, managing your time, taking initiative, and being accountable for your work: the habits that define a reliable person in any field.

  7. 7

    Civic Engagement

    Participating in your community and the broader world as someone who contributes to making things better, rather than watching from the sidelines.

  8. 8

    Collaboration & Teamwork

    Showing up reliably for a group, managing disagreement constructively, and making the team stronger.

  9. 9

    Knowledge Application

    Taking what you've learned and actually using it: connecting academic content to real situations in your career and your life.

  10. 10

    Information Literacy

    Finding, evaluating, and responsibly using information to make good decisions, especially in a world full of sources that aren't all trustworthy.

Where you're starting, and where you're headed

Kentucky describes these skills at three levels. Most students start college around Benchmark and work toward Milestone over two years of college.

Key term

Milestone: the level Kentucky expects after two years of college, when you can use a skill on your own in real situations.

  1. Benchmark

    Where students typically are when they start college. You're beginning to develop these skills, often with some guidance or support still needed.

    Roughly equivalent to high school completion.

  2. Milestone Your target

    Where you should be after two years of college. You can demonstrate each skill independently, in real situations, without being told exactly how.

    Expected at associate degree completion or halfway through a bachelor's program.

  3. Capstone

    Where bachelor's degree graduates should be: applying each skill with expertise and precision in professional and civic settings.

    Expected at bachelor's degree completion.

Tracking your own growth

You don't need to master all 10 skills in one semester. FYE 100 is the starting point: a chance to name the skills, see what they look like in practice, and start building the habits that carry you toward Milestone.

In Blackboard, you'll rate yourself on these skills, and on how you use AI, with the My Skills Snapshot near the start of the course. You'll take it again at the end, then compare the two. The goal is an honest starting point you can measure your growth against later, not a high score now.

At the end of the course, you'll write or record four short STAR(T) Stories: one for each of three assigned skills (Adaptability & Leadership, Professionalism, and Knowledge Application) and one for a skill you choose. STAR(T) is a structured way to tell a story that shows a skill in action, using real experiences from your own life, and the groundwork starts here.

You can write your stories or record them, and recording is worth a try. Telling a story out loud, in your own voice, is the closest practice you'll get for how you'll actually use it: in a job interview, a scholarship conversation, or any time someone asks, "Tell me about a time when…"

Pathfinder Tip

When you rate yourself, be honest rather than generous. A realistic starting point makes your growth easier to see.