Are You Ready for College?

The school year is finally winding down and in the whirlwind of school activities (prom was on the third, senior week starts on the twelfth, and graduation is on the twenty-third) and classes ending, I am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. I know my fellow classmates are feeling the same. the juniors are gearing up to become the "top dogs" on campus, the sophomores are excited about becoming juniors, and the freshmen are preparing for the biggest move of our lives. We have spent four years of our lives at Newnan High School (honestly, I think we all spend more time here than we do at our own homes), and not it is time to move on. Everything is definitely about to change; the question is, are we ready?

Freshmen year is the time you decide (kind of) what you want to do as a career. You sign up for classes that match the type of diploma you want to obtain (college prep, tech prep, dual, etc.) and then you follow that path, right? Well, not exactly. I remember as a freshman wanting to explore a career in computer science or to attend mortuary school (polar opposites, I know). I figured out as a freshman, science was not exactly my forte, and the computer classes offered at Newnan did not exactly fall into the "computer science" category. I think I have changed my mind about what I wanted to do at least five times (think mortician/funeral director, computer programmer, journalist, plastic surgeon, and finally graphic designer). In college, it would be virtually impossible to change my major that many times and still graduate on time. So what are we doing in high school to prepare for a determining a college major.

Granted, the classes we take are designed to prepare us to go into any field of study we choose. Then why is "undecided" the most popular major for incoming freshmen to any post-secondary institution? We should have figured out what we wanted to do in our four years spent at Newnan High School, right? Did the classes we take really prepare us for the "real world" or for the college classes we are about to attend?

For the most part, yes. The "core" classes give us a good base to work off. Although, I think it should be a requirement that all students attend at least one class at CEC. A scheduling mistake prompted me to take a graphic design class at CEC. Who knew it would be a blessing in disguise? Graphic design is the field of study I want to enter.

Will most students at Newnan get the hands-on-training they need if they do not attend CEC? Probably not, but that is not Newnan High School's fault. I think that students should be guided into taking classes that interest them. Classes at CEC and those offered at Newnan, such as Virtual High School and Teacher Cadet, should be advertised more. Students cannot take part in classes they do not know about. Teachers want their students to succeed, that is why they spend so much of their time preparing us to graduate and to go on to bigger and better things.

I think the more time we spend figuring out what we want to do at Newnan High School, the more prepared we will be to choose a major in college. Besides, is underwater basket weaving really a good career choice? Use these four years as best you can. Find something you love. Make a career out of it, and make a logical career choice!

--Whitney Black, Editor-in-Chief