Growing up we are asked the same question every year: what do you want to be when you grow up? Weedsport Senior Jamie Cady gave us some insight into what led up to her choosing what she wants to be. When Cady was in elementary school she wanted to be an Olympic gymnast. When she was in middle school she wanted to be a hair and makeup stylist. Now that Cady is in high school and is graduating this year, she wants to be a color specialist in cosmetology and also be an esthetician.
Cady has always enjoyed doing other people’s hair, and always enjoyed braiding and doing her own hair. Cady has also loved to do skincare. As she says, “I love learning more about skincare and beauty.” According to Cady she always knew that she wanted to be some kind of entrepreneur, “I’ve wanted to be an entrepreneur and I think I may grow my career into something no one has done before.”
Picking a career for after high school is a complicated and long task to achieve. Cady takes a class at BOCES – Early Childhood Education. She said that she fell in love with teaching, and she even has an internship at Seward Elementary where she shadows different types of special education classes. She may love teaching kids and helping them, but she says that she doesn’t see herself doing that for her whole life, “I love teaching but I don’t think I could continue doing that my whole life. So I’m going with what I’ve loved for years and have never stopped loving to do.”
When deciding what to do with your future, the question “Are you going to college?” is brought to you a lot. Cady has decided that she wants to go to college to pursue her career. In Fall of 2024 she is planning to go to Continental School of Beauty, located in Syracuse. The following year she might go to a community college to study business. Many people want to go to college, many people decide to go to college, and those same people think that college just is not worth it. At a time in her life she didn’t want to go to college, she thought that college just wasn’t worth it, “I thought it wasn’t worth it with how expensive it is–I still believe so for many careers.”
There are many challenges in deciding your future and Cady has given some insight into what her biggest challenge is, “The most challenging thing with deciding plans for my life is not knowing where specific plans will take you. High school is all I’ve known for school, not knowing how classes will be and who I will be in school with is very nerve racking. But my biggest challenge is worrying I will waste my money by not liking the career I’ve chosen.”
When closing in on graduation you have to do a lot of preparing, especially if you want to go to college. Here is how Cady has prepared, “…saving lots of money from working. If I could give a tip to anyone in high school-save your money and work as soon as you can.” Some people have specific moments where they know what they want to do when they grow up and some people don’t. She said, “There was never a specific time where I knew the path I wanted to take, but I’ve always loved what I’ve done, so I’ve known for a long time.”
Every grade in school you are prepared for the future. In elementary school they would say, “we are preparing you for middle school.” In middle school they would say, “we are preparing you for high school.” In high school they would say, “we are preparing you for life after graduation.” Every year you are told something different by every teacher and what they are preparing you for, but they don’t prepare you for the challenges that you face when going through school. There is one thing that every high school student goes through and that is drama, which can be challenging. Cady has given us some insight and tips on her biggest challenge going through school, “…realizing there are a lot of fake people out there. Make sure the people you’re around are who you look up to, if not I would suggest to find a new friend because your reputation could land in their hands.” High school isn’t always troubling, there are some ways that people benefit from high school. Here is one way that Cady has benefitted from High school, “BOCES and our small school has benefitted me the most…I love to learn at BOCES because it’s something I’m interested in. Having the connections with teachers that I do at Weedsport is incredible and to know you can truly be yourself here with so much support.”
Everybody’s high school experience is different, some people have bad experiences and some people have good experiences. Cady’s high school experience has been good, and she has loved being a part of our small school community to grow and become better. Achievements can be viewed differently according to the person and her biggest achievement was making it through high school to figure out what she wanted. When you graduate high school you want the most out of life, you want to live out your years before it is too late, or you want to spend your life working and as they say, “Rest and sleep when you’re dead.”
People are always asking for advice on how to decide on what they want to do, or how to go about life after graduation or maybe even in high school. Here is some friendly advice that can be helpful: always follow what you want to do, even if you’re not sure, even if others don’t agree with what you want, do different things, because at least you can say you lived and tried.
