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Summer's over, but future beckons for youth - Comments (3) View Comments
Mason Hess - 8/7/2009
The time has come once again; a time that is either loved or hated, awaited or feared. Summer is nearing its end, and the schools are getting ready to re-open. The stores are becoming stocked full of notebooks, binders, pencils and the like. Mothers are shopping for clothes and supplies; fathers are planning the fall sports schedule. Every year it happens the same, and every year it ends the same.
The graduated class of 2009, however, is facing a few difficult decisions. For those of us lucky enough to have gotten out of high school last year, the time is now upon us to make the choice: be free of school, for good, or grit our teeth and go back in it for another 4 year run.
For some, the word “college” simply means 4 more years of useless, time consuming boredom. For others, it’s simply another small stepping stone on the path to their life-long careers. Either way, it’s time to decide whether to head back to school, or head right into the working world and build your career from there.
Many influencing adults in our lives have stressed the importance of college since the start of high school, maybe even earlier. I’ve seen countless times, though, in which students will take their high school diplomas only and become very successful workers or business owners. The situation is also much different in a small town such as ours. Many families already own businesses that are simply passed through the generations. For those that don’t, a small town is probably one of the easiest places to find work.
There are still those, however, who strive for something more; former students who need to break out of the small town-cycle and achieve something greater. We want to be doctors, artists, lawyers, and everything in between. For these graduates, college is the way to go. Yes, it is another long 4 years, possibly even more than that, and it is going to be costly. But we like to believe in the investment. We like to believe that, like so many before us, we’ll take this road and it will lead us onto better things and bigger places.
The time of hand-holding is behind us, and we look now to the future. Many doors have just opened before us and it is now up to us to choose which path to follow. Each and every one of the graduated students of 2009 has a choice to make and a life to live. We’re shaping the future with our actions and carving the past as we go. No matter what we decide to do, we are now the future face of the world.
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