From a young age, kids are told that they need to have their lives figured out by the time they graduate high school. As they get older, they keep this in the back of their minds, letting it sit but not really doing much about it. Even as they start coming in to high school, as freshmen and sophomores, it doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal.
But once the spring semester of junior year hits, most kids realize that they do need to have a plan. They need to know what they’re doing after they cross the stage in a year. Counselor meetings won’t start until their senior year, but those meetings are likely to start out with the question, ‘what’s your plan?’
The sudden realization that they should have at least an idea of what they want to do after high school might cause a spark of panic in the juniors. ‘What do I do? Is college an option anymore? Trades? Working?’
‘What do I want to do with my life?’
For Soli Landin, the short-term answer to that question is college.
She wants to attend the University of Montana and study science to become a veterinarian. After that, she plans to get her doctorate in animal medicine to finish vet training.
Right now, in her junior year, Landin is taking smaller pre-requisite classes to get some of her under-grad college education out of the way.
For her senior year, Landin is planning on taking a few more college classes. She also plans on working throughout the year to save up money for college as well as signing up for as many scholarships as she can. She wants her senior year to go as smooth as possible, especially after the whirlwind that is her junior year.
“I’m going to primarily try and make it easier, because junior year has been pretty complicated,” Landin said.
Landin also said that she feels like she needs to start volunteering in order to get to a place where she can easily find a job after college.
“I plan on volunteering at multiple shelters to get experience,” Landin said.
She also said she should probably sign up for some science or math classes, but, again, she wants her senior year to be an easier year for her.
After college, Landin wants to get married and live on a sort of remote homestead farm.
Not every junior has their whole life planned out, though.
Hunter Edmondson knows that she wants to go to college and wrestle. She’s been looking at a D2 college in upper Iowa, but that’s about all she knows for her short-term plan. She doesn’t know what she wants to major in or even solidly where she wants to go, just that she wants to wrestle.
After college, she knows she wants to get a good job and eventually buy a house and start a family, but she hasn’t worked out the little details of her plan.
Right now, Edmondson is saving up money for college and plans on continuing that through her senior year. In her senior year, she plans on taking a few college classes to get ahead in her college education.
“I have a lot of easy classes. Well, to me, they’re easy. I’m taking college government and then college english, and they’re easy,” Edmondson said.
Mainly, she just wants to have fun through her senior year.
Edmondson doesn’t really think there is something she should be doing now to prepare, but she is maintaining her grades in order to make sure she can go where she wants in her college career.