This is a busy month at SRSS! Orientation for the grade 8s who will be SRSS grade 9 students next year. Orientation for the grade 9 students who will be joining us from the other rural high schools to take advantage of the vocational programming offered here starting in grade 10. Registration for all the current grade 9 through 11 students. And last, but not least, grad planning for all the grade 12 students.At moments like these, when the future seems to be staring down and asking us... WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?, it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and we get freaked out by all the choices we have to make. How do we know if we are making the right decision? What if I choose the wrong Math class? What if I do automotive and decide I want to be a lawyer? What if my parents were right and I should have taken Chemistry last year?
Here is my answer. Take it for what it's worth.
BREATHE! It's going to be okay!
It's going to be okay as long as you try your best, attend classes and earn your credits. Here is the simple truth as I see it. You have a multitude of possibilities, choices and options in your life. And while some are clearly harmful - you know the ones - you likely don't need me to list all the really harmful and bad decisions you could make that would end up not being okay.
However taking courses, learning new things, expanding your mind and opening doors for your future... that is not a bad thing. And let's say you take Applied Math instead of Pre-Calculus Math and then figure out you need Pre-Cal to take the course you want at university or college... Guess what... you still can. There are ways to earn those credits even after you graduate.
If you decide to be a carpenter and after several years you decide you want to become a teacher. You can. If you started in hairstyling and after grade 10 moved to an academic major only to discover you wished you'd stayed in hairstyling - you can still go to college for that.
Decisions you make now in high school are important and can impact the direction of your future. However, the GREAT NEWS is that you can still pursue your dreams and change your dreams even if your choices in high school don't line up with what you want to do at age 19, 25 or 43 or 61.We have the great gift of the ability to learn, learn something else, relearn something we learned incorrectly, change direction, learn another skill, and even learn something completely different again.
Course choices and decisions we make today can direct our paths. Those choices can open up options or limit options. However, the great news is we can always CHOOSE to learn something new and by doing that open up new doors or ones that were previously closed. We are all HUMAN! What interests us today - may not interest us tomorrow or in 3 years or in 15 years. And the great news is we can make changes as our interests, values, hopes, and ambitions
change.The important thing to remember, there are somethings that can limit your choices and some of those are pretty scary and permanent - things like illegal activities and the other truly harmful things of which you are very aware. However, generally choices can be changed. Plans can be altered. And giving it your best, attending all of your classes, handing in all of your assignments will always set you up in the right direction even if you decide to change directions.
So plan well. But remember plans can be changed. Talk to your parents, friends, teachers and guidance counsellors. Make the best decisions possible with the information you have right now. And, if need be, change those plans, alter your direction, learn new things. You've got this!
