Learning to Prepare for Learning

As school begins at a young age we all develop dreams. Dreams of becoming an astronaut, a professional athlete, or maybe even an actor/singer. These are all dreams that are very unlikely to achieve even though they may be possible. As we enter the later stages of our school career we start to focus on more realistic and meaningful jobs. Students start to look into future careers such as being doctors, teachers, veterinarians, scientists, or anything else that may seem interesting to the student. As I was growing up I always saw myself becoming a professional athlete. Due to focusing on being the best I could be on the sports field I never really focused on a career path I would be interested in outside of athletics. I can personally say I started to set myself up for failure by devoting all of my focus to my sports but I can also say it’s not all on me. As a freshman at Oak Hill High School, we took career essentials that helped push us in the right direction of our career and college search. Quizzes were taken and we were given suggested careers and colleges at that time. There’s just one problem with the quizzes we had taken. These quizzes were based on our 14-year-old versions of ourselves. Students are not developed at the age of 14 and our thoughts are more than likely going to change as we learn and develop. The career path I was given was becoming a game warden. Like many of my close peers, my views on my future career have changed. The want and need to be outdoors are still in my mids but focusing on the law side of things is not something that’s filling my interest.

As my peers and I finalized our decisions on our future after high school I have heard a lot of confusion and uncertainty. I believe that instead of the career essentials class our freshman year we should have a college-based class later on in our high school careers. Instead of being thrown such important information a few years in advance, I believe we should be learning as we go through and enter our college process. Being able to go through and decipher different scholarships and colleges is a huge part of life as they lead up to some of the biggest choices in your life. As the majority of students choose to explore many different colleges and careers, many are unclear on how to break down the financials and credit requirements for each college. Personally, I applied to about 12 colleges and was accepted to 10 of the 12 so I had plenty of options. I can honestly say I had very little idea of how to weigh out the options. Between the financials, campuses, majors, room and board, I was very confused. The overwhelming thought of having to decide on something so important while I really don’t know what I’m doing or talking about. I have made my decision and I will be enrolling at the college of my choice in the fall of 2022. I believe including a class discussing the college process would help seniors out tremendously. Getting rid of some of the stress put on our shoulders can help us focus on our current school and help create a smoother process throughout the year. This is why I think prep work should be given later in our high school careers instead of earlier on.

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