Purbalite seniors evaluate their four years of high school at Baldwin.
Senior Farewell: There isn’t just one path to the future
At the start of my high school career I had my heart set on being a nurse. Now I’m going into a career that I would have never imagined for myself.
In my junior year, I made the choice that a four-year college was not in the cards for my future. I have struggled with school my entire life and I knew that I would not survive academically.
So my next option was to try to convince my mom to let me go into the military. I was terrified because the entire world was on the edge of another global conflict, and I had no idea how my mother would react.
It turned out that I didn’t need to worry about my mom’s reaction. Although she never expected for her kid to want to join the military, she was incredibly supportive.
As I started to look further into my choice, though, I realized that I would not pass the physical part of the ASVAB military test because of my vision and previous health issues.
This setback meant that I had to find another pathway for my future.
That is when I decided to go to a trade school instead. Now the question I get asked is “Why would you choose school? You hate school.” My answer is always the same thing: I now get to have the opportunity to do what I want in life, not what everyone else has chosen for me.
Ever since I was younger, I have been asked to fix the things around the house. That is the one thing that made me realize that I was meant to work in the trades.
I will be attending Pittsburgh Technical College and studying welding.
One thing that this entire experience has taught me is that if an original plan fails or needs to be changed, there is always another path to follow.
There is only one thing that I would change about my high school experience, I would have chosen to go to Steel Center. I could have started my career earlier and found my true passion for life faster.
Still, I am incredibly confident in my decision and cannot wait to start this next chapter of my life.