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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

March Crossword Key
March 6, 2024

VoCo College Panel

Five seniors. Five stories. Five very different paths.

On Tuesday, May 24th, five seniors line the stage of the Allen Harvey theatre, sharing their stories about the college application process and they path they chose to partake in.

Senior Lulu Tellez, one of the panel speakers, emphasized the importance of having your plans for next year, or the next four years be a completely individual choice.

“You can’t make a decision about the next four years of life based on what everyone else around you thinks or wants,” Tellez said.

Tellez, who shares her story of planning on attending community college, and recently deciding to take a gap year, explains the pressure she has felt due to the opinions of others.

“People often jump to the conclusion that if someone is going to community college, they are intelligently inferior, when in reality, community college can be a great path for many people and does not define a person’s self worth,” Tellez said.

Tellez said that an easy way to be more inclusive to all different pathways is to ask people what they’re plans are for the future, rather than what college they are going to.

“I’ve had countless people asking me where I’m going to college next year and every time there’s a voice in my head saying ‘well what if I’m not going to college’?” Tellez said.

While the panel students agreed with Tellez in that phrasing questions in a more inclusive way is very important, senior Danny Debate mentioned how sometimes college conversations can actually be very helpful.

“It is helpful to discuss college to a certain extent because they have guidance that can help you,” Debare said. “It’s just important for those conversations to come about naturally.”

With each of the five seniors having very different plans for next year, audience members were able to understand just how varied paths can be.

Seniors Lizzy Langer discussed the application process when applying to international schools and the reactions she got regarding her choice in studying at a college outside the United States.

“I found the college applications in the UK to be much easier,” Langer said.”Yet found it difficult when explaining my plans for next year as not many people know where University of Edinburgh is.”

Debate said that paths can easily change and last minute decisions can always be made.

“I know people who have changed their mind and decided to take gap years in May,” Debare said. “It’s a whole timeline and you have lots of different options along the way.”

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