What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? SJND Edition
Written by Troy Kimbrew ‘27
One of the most difficult choices a person makes in their life is the career path they follow. I chose career choice as my topic and interviewed two teachers and five students. Both teachers who were interviewed had a clear vision of their future career choice while they were in high school. Unlike the teachers, several of my peers did not have a clear picture of what they wanted to do when they grew up. The reasons varied; however, they centered on two themes: being too far in the future and the fear of regretting a choice they make later in life. Both reasons are understandable, and statistics back one of them. According to HuffPost.com, around half of people in their twenties regret their career choices. They also stated that people on average change their careers seven times throughout their lives.
SJND student Sam wants to be a pediatrician. Sam states, “I want this job because it involves helping people in need.” This occupation is appealing to him because he feels that he will get a lot out of the practice. Sam also said, “There are so many different conditions out there that you don’t see on a day-to-day basis so just helping anyone within that department is great.” This is Sam’s career choice because everything about medicine interests him, and many of his family members are nurses and doctors.
10th grader student Cassius wants to be a police officer, firefighter, Marine, or therapist in the future. Cassius enjoys serving, helping, and protecting others. He says, “It fulfills my life and gives me a great sense of purpose.” The appealing things about this job for him are the benefits, titles, and knowing that people are being positively affected by his actions. He later stated, “I love the feeling of knowing that people will be ok when they sleep at night or knowing that families stay safe and together.” When his house burned down on October 2, 2014, he learned to respect and be grateful for everything in life. He wants to keep that respect for the rest of my life, but also pass it on to others.
When counselor Ms. Proctor was younger, she wanted to become a psychiatrist. This interest started while she was in high school doing volunteer social work and carried on through college. She received her undergraduate degree in psychiatry at the University of Redlands. Ms. Proctor states, “I enjoy the feeling of making a difference in people’s lives that need help.”
SJND student Cecilia wants to be a counselor for kids with an ILP/IEP, a social worker, or a therapist. She stated, “I want to help kids and kids with special needs” and teach them that they are loved, and nothing is wrong with them.” These careers are appealing to her because she has also experienced unfair treatment and at sometimes no support. She says, “Because I have experienced not being treated kindly and having no support, I want to help kids and show them how to advocate for themselves.” For her, the most interesting about these careers is learning how kids and teenagers' minds work. Cecilia’s interest started when she observed how her counselor helped her.
Growing up, Mr. Aguilar’s dream job was to become a teacher. This interest started for him in high school when he had a teacher whom he enjoyed learning from. This teacher, who was also his role model, is one of the main reasons that he is at Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School (SJND). The most important part of this occupation for him is to help young adults become adults.
SJND student Jizelle wants to be either a psychiatrist or therapist when she grows up. This interest was inspired by when she watched Grey’s Anatomy when she was younger. “Finding out how the mind works and how people’s situations can affect them and their mental health is very interesting,” she stated.
Student Manny wants to be a therapist or social worker. He said, “I think that either of these professions can help me work on my people skills and learn to talk to people without getting them mad/agitated.” He wants to help people old and young. “The most appealing thing is that I can help people out of the bad situations that they are enduring,” he stated. This interest started recently by his father, who is already a therapist, and has inspired him to pursue either career path. Manny also is interested in both occupations because he will also be able to meet a variety of new people.
11th grader Mariah wants to become a high school teacher. She stated that this is because “I want to assist the next generation and be a helping hand.” She says, “I love teaching and I genuinely appreciate what teachers do for society.” This career is interesting to her because she thinks the next generations will be in charge of our world, and they deserve the best start. Her interest started with her father, Mr. Smith, who teaches social studies at SJND.
I enjoyed learning about my peer’s future aspirations and how my teachers ended up in their current careers. All the people that I interviewed who knew what they wanted to do in the future were all interested in helping others. This ranged from pediatricians, police officers, firefighters, Marines, therapists, psychiatrists, teachers, and social workers. I also found it interesting how each person was inspired to choose their future career. This was from parents and family members, mentors, life situations, and even a television show. It would be interesting to interview everyone again in a couple of decades to see what careers they have chosen.
