Graduates, with caps soaring skyward, embrace the future, stepping confidently into the next chapter of their lives. Clapping in the distance behind them fills the auditorium. A few shed tears, but all are of joy. A new world awaits the students outside the high school doors. Their stories are being written.
The end of the 24-25 year is coming up for the seniors at St. Louis High School, but with that comes the dilemma of what seniors will be doing after school.
Some may be getting ready to enroll or take off for college while others are taking gap years, working or just choosing not to go to college.
Landon Pestrue, the valedictorian of the class of 2025, states, “After high school I will be attending Michigan Tech to run track and cross country and pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. I feel really excited to have the opportunity to compete and learn at the next level.”
While Pestrue expresses his excitement for these opportunities, he also mentions a slight fear in the knowledge that he isn’t a child anymore.
“Knowing I’ll be graduating soon, I’m a bit scared, yet excited for what’s to come after high school. I’ll be going to a new curriculum and have to meet new teammates and classmates which can be pretty polarizing,” Pestrue confesses.
Another senior who plans to attend college is Rebekah Ross. “After high school, I’m going to be attending the university of Findlay in Ohio. There, I will double majoring in western equine studies and education. After college, I plan on becoming an agriculture teacher along with training and showing horses on the side,” Ross says.
Ross adds that, “I’ve been so used to having a set curriculum and schedule my whole academic life that going into something that has a lot more freedom and unknown elements is scary. I am also sad knowing that once I enter college my ‘childhood’ will have officially ended.”
Though childhood is coming to an end, the sadness is washed out by excitement of new beginnings. “You know, after graduating after basically spending your entire life at school is a wild feeling. It feels like passing into the next part of your life. I am excited to see where that part of life takes me,” says Jayden DuBois-Kleinhans.
Whether students are going to college, trade school, or going straight into the workforce, your life will start as soon as they graduate and hopefully if all is well it will end well.
