Take A Step Ahead

Dear Parents and Students of Oak Hill Middle School,

There are many things that middle school students don’t think about before moving up to High School. For example, thinking about your future. You don’t necessarily need to look into specific colleges like the ivy leagues including Harvard and Yale, but you can always look into fun ways to contribute to the community and going on college tour field trips. Things that can be put on your resume in the future.

I believe that it is important for students in middle school or even a little bit younger to look into where they would like to go to college in the future and maybe even what they would be interested in going to college for. Personally, I didn’t think about what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go until the end of my junior year or maybe even the summer before senior year. I would have to say I’ve had a lot of stress about college in the past couple months because of this. I have just decided to attend York County Community College to hopefully reach my goal of becoming a vet technician.

Young kids normally try to follow what others around them are doing, so it isn’t necessarily a great time for them to make a life altering decision, but they can always think of careers that will make them happy in the future. In most movies, I’ve seen middle school children at least have a dream school that they have always wished to go to, or one their parents went to that they wish to attend one day. This shows that some middle schoolers have given college a thought, but more middle schoolers should give it thought. Middle school grade children have a better understanding of what they would want to do one day or at least have an idea of what makes them happy.

I think that everyone should think about what they want to do in their life before high school. They don’t have to make a decision, but at least give it a thought. In my opinion, I have had more stress added to my senior year of high school because I didn’t give it that much thought when I was younger. I thought the year that I had to make life decisions was so far away. I was wrong. I should have given it more thought when I was young, even if the college I was thinking about wasn’t my final choice. Senior year has a lot of stress already and not deciding on what college I wanted to attend before October of this year really added to the stack of stress.

I love the career I choose to follow through with, but maybe if I gave it more thought a couple of years ago I would’ve chosen something else or maybe tried harder my freshman and sophomore year. I wasn’t thinking about my future career when I was younger and I really wish I had. I could’ve had better grades, gone to a better college, gotten better scholarships. If students think more about how their actions impact their future they would have more options that will be better for their future.

When middle school kids think about college, it gives them a chance to look at early exploration, career paths, their academic strengths and weaknesses, setting goals for their future careers. Young middle school kids are still fully capable of putting thought into their future. Middle school is an important time for kids to explore their options and visit different colleges that they are interested in. College might not seem like a priority to middle schoolers, but it is a great way to start out your future and start learning to be prepared. Thinking about college young can decrease your stress levels when you get to the age where you start applying for colleges.

“College” by Jlhopgood is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.