I’ve been working my way up to this moment--being a senior in high school--from all the way back to when I couldn’t spell my name correctly.  Now all I want to do is be able to switch my tassel to the other side and throw my hat high into the air.  So then what happens after my hat falls back down and the graduation ceremony is over?

Many people, from adults to my classmates, have been asking what I will be doing after high school.  They want to know what I want to do with my life or what colleges I have applied to.  The questions are annoying and after each one it becomes more and more of a pet peeve from hearing them over and over again, especially in a school where the great majority of students go to college. This unavoidable topic is also a very expected one. Even unspoken reminders, such as college logo sweatshirts walk the hallways.

I realize my questioners are just wondering what I’m going to do with the rest of my life and I understand the question; I just don’t have an answer . . .yet.  This is not the kind of question that comes with five choices and I just fill in a little bubble with a number two pencil.  The answer to this question will determine my future.  It may be somewhat of a multiple choice test, but there are many choices and I can’t guess on any of them.  The answer cannot be looked up in a textbook; it is completely up to me.  So I just politely tell the questioners I don’t know.  Now in their eyes I am a possibly stupid and a minimally driven person.  They look at me as if I just expect a job to fall in my lap.

I have every intention of working my way up with my pride and dignity walking on a leash beside me.  If there is a possibility my questioners won’t like the answer, why do they ask the question?  Just because someone doesn’t know what they want to do, or be, or where they want to go to college does not mean they aren’t driven.  It simply means they just don’t know yet.  There are more job descriptions than there are colleges to choose from.  Leaving high school is a time for change, a beginning, and a time to gain experiences to know what you want to pursue.  All of which comes before going to college.

I haven’t had enough experience with the world to tell you what I want to do.  Asking me where I want to go is like me asking you what your day will be like tomorrow.  Surely you have some plans, maybe even an outline, but there will always be fill in the blank uncertainties.  I want a job that I enjoy and one that reflects me as a person.   No standardized testing will ever determine that.   The rest is up to me.