The time for seniors here at PHS is coming to an end. For many of us, this is a very upsetting time. We will leave everything we know behind and must “grow up.”
Many of us are going to college or the workforce. We are all faced with deciding where to go after high school, and I am no different.
Since beginning high school, I have both excelled in my academic classes and loved working with my hands. When deciding what I wanted to do, I knew I also wanted to use my creativity to my benefit.
Two men have had a lot of influence on my life: my dad and my grandfather. My dad Branden has worked as a laborer for Inliner Solutions for 17 years and Heidelberg Materials for four years. He has always been willing to put in the extra effort, knowing his family depended on him.
My grandfather Steve Owens, on the other hand, is not a laborer but a lawyer and is now the Orange County Judge. With these men in my life I have always had two examples of career paths my life could take.
Growing up, my father was always a laborer, and seeing how he worked, and the time he spent working, showed me what I needed to do if I wanted to follow his path. The amount of labor has led him to have extreme back problems, which have also made him shrink two inches due to the padding in his back deteriorating. He is required to lift heavy materials and do hard work daily, which the body can not always take. Being a laborer meant time away from family and traveling the country for work. He used to work on the road and would miss many key family and life moments for a paycheck. Funny enough, he even accidentally missed my little brother Landen’s birth because of work.
As for my grandfather, working as a lawyer and judge, he had to go through intensive schooling, and his job brought a lot of stress. He would work long hours so that he could do his job. That brought some happy and angry people he had in trial, which brings extra stress knowing what people may think of him.
I take massive pride in my schoolwork, where I do well. After this semester, I will complete the Indiana College Core. I have received 30 college credits throughout my high school career. I enjoy school a lot and enjoy the thrill of learning something new. A big college class I really enjoyed was Chemistry 101, just because I knew nothing about it, but I truly loved the challenge.
I began taking welding classes during my freshman year of high school and loved it. I have taken Doug Elliott’s classes throughout school to improve my welding skills. I am also now an employee through Inliner Solutions in Orleans, working on their vehicles in the mechanic’s shop.
What should I ultimately choose? I have always been conflicted about what I want to do; should I choose a job that had me working with my hands or a more intellectual path?
This year, I was also handed a new challenge when I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. Doing labor-intensive jobs will be very difficult to maintain and protect my health. Working with my hands requires a lot of effort and physically challenging work, which would be very complicated. So, with that diagnosis, I knew my body couldn’t handle all of the struggle that both would bring.
I know my body may not be able to keep up with heavy labor forever, so I have decided to chosen a career path that allows me to work with my hands and my mind. My calling is to work in Construction as a Project Manager. I will be able to be on-site, save my body, and use my mind to improve the company and the job site. In that position, I will figure out the finances and plans for the job to make sure it runs right and how it should be done.
I will also be attending Hanover College, where I am blessed with the ability to play football. While attending, I will be studying Construction Management. Later, I plan to get my master’s in Project Management at a different Institution online.
Thinking about what you want to do in the future can be difficult for some kids. Through many conversations about my future, I could never answer what I wanted to be until now. The future isn’t always promised or secured, so you must not place all your eggs in the same basket to succeed. The opportunities that I will have are magnificent, and the possibilities are endless. It is always important to remember to keep an open mind and not to stress because it is never that deep; you just have to have fun.