Freshmen enter high school aware of their goals and achievements, and through the evolution of maturity and experiences, those expectations can dramatically shift. As a senior, their perspective has likely evolved, creating realistic standards and responsible decision making skills regarding the future.
“I feel like I really had no clue freshman year what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to go to a college, but freshman year I had ruled out UT completely, and now it’s one of my top two contenders,” senior Chloe Whitt said. “So, my plans haven’t really changed a lot, [but] they’ve become a lot more clear.”
Above all, Whitt’s goals did not necessarily change; they evolved and enhanced her ever growing knowledge of maturity and realism. While current freshmen may not necessarily know exactly what they want to do, they keep an open heart and mind.
“If I’m trying to get a job in a specific area, then of course, since I want to be a detective, I’ll need to know a lot more about it,” said freshman Conan O’Dell.
Furthermore, O’Dell wishes to dive into criminal justice classes to get more experience from them. Compared to Whitt, his goals are less detailed but they align with her own when she was a freshman.
“My plans are mostly just to pay attention in all of my classes and try to do the best I can so that my college applications look really good,” Whitt said.
While Whitt might have more of a focus on her overarching goals of going to a good college, other Seniors may differ in their own achievements. Compared to most freshmen, seniors typically know what they want to do in the future.
“I’ve always found an interest in science and I would like to do something sports related like physical therapy,” Ryder Poole said, “I would work with athletes and people in sports because that’s something I like.”
Moreover, Poole desires to combine his two passions, science and athletics into a career he will enjoy. This is a result of trial and error throughout his educational high school journey, experimenting with classes and finding the best fit.
“Mostly I’m mainly focused on keeping my grades up, but now I’m really focusing on. Finding interesting classes. Like what classes are the most interesting or important classes suit me the best or help me the most,” said O’Dell
Although O’Dell has stated that he wants to become a detective he is keeping an open mind for other interesting career paths. While he explores his interests, his priority is his overall grades and achievements.
“Im planning to get a 4.0 because I really want to go to UTK,” freshman Madeline Atkins said.
Similarly, the goal between the average freshman tends to be high grades. Freshmen prepare for the overwhelming pressure of high school’s future consequences and expectations. Seniors eventually release this pressure but translate it to college.
“I’ve really put a lot of weight on my grades because when you’re in high school, grades directly translate to money and so does your ACT score,” senior Haley Kiser said.
Haley’s perspective on money and education can also be compared to Atkins’, specifically keeping their grades up to maximize opportunities. This connects the two grades not only in passion but also realistic standards.
“Freshman year, I didn’t even know about my love for art, I just never really put very much weight in it ‘cause it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with my academics,” Kiser said. “But then, I took an art class my Freshman year and enjoyed it and I was good at it, then sophomore year I started painting and that’s when it clicked for me that that’s where my niche is.”
