Our school year is slowly coming to a close and for many students, their entire high school career is as well. While some students plan to go to universities, many have very different plans post high school. Four Tahoma students share their post graduation plans and life-long goals.

Senior Josh Hren is very involved in various activities such as National Honor Society, We The People, Video Production, and Church activities. “My plans after high school is to attend George Fox University,”[sic] he says, “I switched my major last minute and I’ll now be studying political science because of We The People. It made me realize that maybe nursing wasn’t a passion and serving people is a passion.” Hren describes how he wants to have a career where he can potentially serve people through public administration and be able to represent the public and make a difference in the community. Hren says Tahoma’s We The People advisor, Gretchen Wulfing encouraged him in this direction and his parents have also been very supportive of this decision.

Another senior, Eden Mark shares her post high school plans as well. She plans to “Take a year and a half off and then go to Green River and take a couple easy classes” After that she says she will transfer to Bellevue College or Central Washington University, majoring in business. Eventually, she wants to go to beauty school and own a salon, just like her mom. Although Mark says her parents “want her to go to school right away”, she believes she knows herself best and knows that going straight to college without a gap year will cause her to burn out quickly.

Senior Lincoln Harmer describes his plans and goals of going on a church mission for two years in Paraguay after high school. He says that he will spend much of his time talking to people in the community and studying scripture. “It’s important to go out and serve the Lord,” he says. Harmer states that his parents are very supportive of this decision and that “they’d probably disown [him] if [he] didn’t do it.”

Lastly, senior Parker Ulrey shares his plans of joining the military, specifically the Army. He plans to go to boot camp in Georgia for 4 months and predicts he will be stationed somewhere else for about 20 years. Ulrey has wanted to do this since he was a young child and some of his family members have served in the military as well.  Afterwards, he plans to go to college and then be an electrical engineer. Ulrey says his parents have been very supportive of his decision and are excited for him.

Although these students live in the same small Tahoma community, they all have very different aspirations, dreams, and plans.  Their high school plans are vastly different but they all want to ultimately be successful in what they do. This goes to show that there truly is no “perfect plan” for post-high school and that everyone finds success in different ways.