Baltimore City Public Schools is shifting its guiding principles to reflect the “soft skills” students say they want to have when they graduate.

CEO Sonja Santelises announced the new “Portrait of a Graduate” strategic plan at Montebello Elementary/Middle School on Thursday. She said the plan builds on the district’s three overarching goals from 2017: literacy, student wholeness and leadership.

“Since 2017, the world has changed greatly, and we have learned a lot about our students and families,” she said. “We believe that our strategic plan has to reflect these new priorities.”

The strategic plan is used as a guiding framework for school policies, allocation of resources and operations.

“So we've tweaked the three pillars to ensure our operations — the work of adults — best support students,” Santelises said.

In December, district officials began meeting with students from seven schools, and members of the CEO’s Youth Leadership Advisory Council, to ask what skills they want to possess by graduation.

“They’re soft skills our students can use no matter their goals or chosen pathways,” Santelises said. “Together, they represent the portrait that should look back at us when a student earns their diploma. The competencies will be the foundation to the victories our students deserve.”

The list includes five traits: confidence, effective communication, responsible and global citizenship, adaptability and flexibility, and creative and innovative thinking.

Zion Lewis, a student at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School and a member of the advisory council, said these updates better prepare students for success after graduation.

Education is the foundation for success, he said.

“But with every foundation, things start to crack; things start to fall; things start to degrade over time,” he said. “And so when we have plans and initiatives like ‘Portrait of a Graduate,’ we get to renew that foundation; we get to expand that foundation.”

Santelises said the next step is to put the new strategic plan into practice.

“The real work begins tomorrow, the real work of making sure that our young people have what they need, that we as adults are organizing our work around their needs,” she said.