Objects in future are closer than they appear

By Scotti Hager
George Washington High School

The future is closer than you might think. Nowadays, schools are making students decide earlier and earlier what they want to do with their entire lives. This can be very stressful for teens.

Things that they have never thought about before start to become daily ponderings. Questions like “Am I eligible for financial aid?,” “What major and career do I want to pursue?” and “Where should I live to be successful with that job?” begin to race through their minds.

But for some students, these questions do not worry them. They already have their lives figured out, some down to the last detail.

Alex Burke, a freshman at George Washington, has known for a while that he wants to be a business and multimedia computer manufacturer. He also wants to be a graphic artist on the side.

“I’ll need an Associate’s degree in business, design and IT (information technology),” he explained. “I want to live somewhere in the Silicon Valley — maybe San Jose.”

South Charleston High School freshman Brittany Snodgrass also knows the route to her dream. “I’ve always wanted to be a pharmaceutical representative — a drug rep,” said the ambitious teen. “Once I got out of the singer/vet/actress stages, I automatically knew that I wanted to sell medicine to hospitals and doctors’ offices.”

“I want to attend WVU, and when I get out of college, I want to move to a small town. I want out of the city for good,” she continued. “I’m not really interested in making a whole lot of money, either. I just want to make enough to get by and have a little bit of extra spending money.

“And I don’t want a huge house. I just want a little boy, a little girl and two Boxer dogs — that’d make me happy.”

But for every student like Snodgrass and Burke, there are many who still don’t have the slightest clue as to their future plans.

Many juniors or even seniors still haven’t made a definite career decision, but now that schools have started making students decide on their majors and career clusters earlier, these students will definitely have to step it up.

Not everyone thinks this is a great idea.

“I don’t think that kids should have to decide their futures so early. When I was in high school, all you had to decide was if you wanted to be white-collar or blue-collar,” said Lewis Smith, a 1984 graduate of George Washington High School.