Choosing something to pursue for the rest of one’s life is an experience that varies greatly from person to person. For some, the future is a mystery, full of curiosity and experimentation, while others have planned out their entire careers. The latter includes a portion of students who have developed their interests from a young age. Freshman Nia Goulishev, for example, is currently looking into a career in design.
“Growing up, I was always surrounded by crafts,” Goulishev said. “My sister and my dad were always sewing, so I picked it up … probably when I was five. Then, it just stuck with me.”
Much like Goulishev, senior Ella Sims took inspiration from her family.
“My mom worked on Wall Street, and she had a lot of success,” Sims said. “So I first got interested in finance [after] hearing about my mom’s experience with that. After doing more research on my own, I realized that’s a field that I would be interested in.”
“I would love to do sailing professionally, but that’s probably never going to happen … I don’t have the resources to practice by myself. I don’t have enough time to get that good.”
Other students have realized their passions through different means, whether it be in classes, extracurriculars or research.
Sophomore Sam Gulchin, for example, has been surrounded by engineering his whole life — his father works at an auto body shop and his brother is a mechanical engineer. Despite the lifelong exposure he’s had, his passion for engineering didn’t start until he joined the Aragon Robotics Team.
“The way [engineering] was taught [on the Robotics Team] and the way I got to have a direct effect on the team … made me realize I didn’t want to do anything else,” Gulchin said. “The community was really inclusive and the training … was more, ‘assemble this, learn how to use that [and] practice’ … [which] was a lot better for me than reading a textbook and taking a test.”
Senior Armita Ghajarrahimi realized her passion for history and political science while taking Advanced Placement U.S. History and AP Government and Politics classes at Aragon.
“I really like learning about any type of history, and [APUSH] covered so much from around the 1700s to present day, so you got a taste of everything,” Ghajarrahimi said. “I was less excited for [AP Government] because I thought, ‘oh, government, [it] may be boring.’ I actually do find it really interesting. Politics is something that’s usually very vague, but figuring out what thought goes into it and [the] process [is] interesting.”
Yet, there are often obstacles to pursuing what one loves as a career. Sophomore Noah Shefer, for instance, has been sailing for more than 10 years but has doubts about turning his hobby into a profession.
“Recently, I joined a [sailing] race team, which is a lot of fun,” Shefer said. “I would love to do sailing professionally, but that’s probably never going to happen … I don’t have the resources to practice by myself. I don’t have enough time to get that good.”
Time management and mental and physical strain are also obstacles. Sims has the challenge of balancing her career as a Division I soccer player and her dream of studying business.
“Being a [Division I] athlete is a full-time job,” Sims said. “You’re waking up at 5:30 a.m. and your days aren’t ending till 10 p.m. I’m starting to process the idea of, ‘alright, I’m going to be doing two to three trainings a day, and then I have to go to classes and keep up grades so that I can get into a good business school.’ [I know] it’s going to take some trial and error to find that balance … but I’m going to try to make it work.”
On the other end of the spectrum, some students have not yet figured out what they want to do in life. Junior Tristan Carrington, for instance, is still looking for an interest to pursue.
“I’ve been doing programs over the summer and I’m also thinking of doing an abroad program this summer … [which] I think [will] give me an opportunity to figure out what I want later on.”
Whether or not one has decided the course of their walk of life, one thing is clear — excitement for the future pushes students to improve and explore various facets of life.
Choosing a job in the future that is only done half a life will sometimes be difficult and boring, and it’s normal to suddenly take a different job than a college major after several years of working with the same thing.