At first glance, senior year may seem daunting: it’s a balancing act of trying to manage school with work, college applications, and extracurricular activities while also trying to enjoy senior year with family and friends. However, as seniors wrap up their last year of high school, they also look forward to what lies ahead. Whether it’s detailed career objectives or personal goals, many seniors have already begun to formulate their plans for their futures.

Senior Ethan Fetter is currently applying to a mix of both private and public universities. He plans on studying architecture, a passion rooted in his love for building Legos growing up. Fetter particularly enjoyed not only assembling Lego sets but also the aspect of designing his own buildings from scratch.

“Since a young age, I’ve been intrigued with Legos [ever since] my brother introduced me to [them],” Fetter said. “I loved that you could just combine several pieces together in so many different ways. I find that very interesting, because besides [following] a list of instructions, I [also] get to make my own stuff, and that’s where my passion for wanting to be [an] architect comes from.”

In the future, Fetter hopes to become a successful architect where he is surrounded by loved ones in a place that he is able to call home.

“I anticipate myself to be living in California or Colorado, [being] part of a successful architecture firm, [having] a great network of friends and family, and living in a nice big home,” Fetter said.

Senior Katherine Ruiz also has clear plans for her future. Reading murder mysteries when she was younger originally piqued her curiosity in studying psychology and human behavior. It continues to inspire her today as she now hopes to pursue a career that can satisfy these interests. 

“I would say my hobby of reading is what got me interested in becoming a forensic psychologist,” Ruiz said. “I read a book that was well written and really made you think about how and why people think the way they do. I did some research on the author and she was a psychologist, [which] made me go down a rabbit hole of researching psychology and its branches.”

Looking up to her mother as a nurse and her own interest in anatomy, Ruiz now aspires to become a forensic psychologist and/or medical examiner in the future.

“I think my mom being in the medical field somewhat influenced my interest in becoming a medical examiner, and what solidified my interest was taking anatomy class this year,” Ruiz said. “We learn about the how and why of the body and I realized being a medical examiner might be a potential career choice for me.”

Senior Cassia Arredondo is interested in pursuing a career in either S.T.E.M. or leadership, as a Boeing engineer or CEO of a company. Arredondo is very goal-oriented and won’t let other aspects of life distract her from success.

“I wouldn’t sacrifice my goals [for anyone], I would still like to keep going,” Arredondo said. “And if someone’s like, ‘don’t do that’, [then I still] I have to do it. It’s my journey. It’s my plan.”

Arredondo appreciatesher family a lot and wants to make them proud. Through her achievements in life, she hopes to ultimately give back to them after all their years of love and support.

”My biggest goal in life is to make my family proud [due to] all of the sacrifices they’ve made for me,” Arredondo said. “They’ve done so much so I could be at this level and [I want to] be able to give back to them and see them happy and enjoy life [as] they’ve allowed me to enjoy mine.”

Senior Roman Manner defines success as continuing to improve on healthy habits that he has been able to cultivate throughout his high school years.

“I see myself doing the same things I am doing now, [such as] working out, meditating, and trying to become a better person,” Manner said. “I’ll be better at [these] things because I’ll have done them for so long. But for the habits themselves, I hope that I’ll be taking more time to do them. Like meditating; I only do it about ten minutes a day but I hope I do it longer in the future.”

Although one chapter in these seniors‘ lives will soon come to a close, a new one is just beginning. Manner looks forward to new life experiences, especially as he goes off to college.

“I want to be able to make my own choices such as meeting more quality friends,” Manner said. “But overall, I’m just looking forward to all the freedom and independence I’ll be able to have.”

As he moves on from high school, Fetter recognizes the value of appreciating every moment and persevering through life.

“I hope I’m able to be happy and proud of myself for everything that I’m able to go through, and all the challenges that I’m able to persevere through,” Fetter said. “I hope I continue to just hold myself up and always remember the gratitudes in life because that keeps me moving forward.”