Graduation is such a big part of teenage life. It’s also a huge stepping point in life, the result of your graduation can make or break your life. Such an impactful outcome makes it a strong opinionated topic. Some students feel there is too much pressure on teens when it comes to school, most importantly graduation.

I interviewed Senior Jada Jennings about her thoughts on graduation and the pressure of it. She said, “I just think it’s another step you have to take to get to where you want to be in life. I’m a little stressed but I’m happy. I just hope I’ll be able to graduate with my friends that I made over the years.” Although graduating is going to be very sad, life goes on. With that being said, I asked Jada Jennings what her plans were for after graduation. She replied with, “My plan after graduating is either going into the military and studying psychology there or going to a community college for two years and studying psychology and then transferring to a four year.” We all grow up with dreams as kids, so I decided to ask Jada Jennings what she wanted to be while growing up. She answered with, “When I grew up, I wanted to be a teacher, but now I want to be a therapist and then move onto being a college professor”.

I spoke to our senior, Fabiana Salazar, about her feelings and thoughts on graduating. I asked her what she thought about graduation. With her reply, she answered, “It’s definitely a new step in your life, it’s basically just you are entering your adulthood. After graduating a lot of people still live with their parents and stuff, and a lot of them go out on their own and become independent.” Then, I asked her how she felt about graduation and how it makes her feel. She said, “I think I gained independence early, so I don’t live with my parents. I feel like I’m already getting the idea of it. Even still thinking about graduation just makes me sad. Because you won’t get to see your friends every day, and everyone will follow a different path”. Everyone chooses a different path which means everyone has a different plan. I asked Fabiana Salazar what her plans were for after college. Salazar responds, “I plan on attending college, I don’t know which one. My plan is to apply to a bunch of them, a bunch of CSU’s and UC’s. If nobody accepts me then I’ll just go to a community college.” My last question for Fabiana Salazar was what she wanted to be when growing up. Her answer was “It changed throughout the years. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a vet. Then one time a teacher said she wanted to go to that career to and she was telling us about some gruesome projects that she had to do, and that made me change my mind.”

I met up with spirt coordinator and director of interpersonal relations of leadership, Senior Manu Buatavatava. I asked him the same question as the others. What did he think about graduation and how did it make him feel. His reply was “Honestly, I feel really excited, but at the same time it makes me really sad. Because I’m probably not going to see any of my friends for a very long time, If not at all. So, for me it’s really bittersweet”. My next question for Manu Buatavatava was to explain what his plans were for after graduation. He replied with “For the summertime I just want to enjoy it, I might just go back and work maybe go to a couple parties or whatever. When it comes to school time again, I plan on going to college, and probably a little bit farther away from here. I don’t want to stay in the two zero nine area if I’m being honest with you.” Wanting to get to know Manu Buatavatava a bit more– including his childhood– I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, “Growing up I actually wanted to be an astronaut, but that obviously changed. I discovered that I did not like science that much. I found out that I enjoy English and history more than science.”