One year has passed since I graduated from high school. I currently have a business photographing weddings, engagements, and senior portraits, and my work has been featured in art galleries throughout Washington State. I’m also a content creator for a local company.
As a freshman in high school, I could never have imagined that I would be in this situation. All I knew was that I preferred working to studying in a classroom, and I didn’t know if going to college was the right path for me. I was worried about what my remaining four years would look like and whether my future was as bright as my classmates who seemed to be pursuing higher education.
Through my own research, teacher support, and access to classes that allow me to explore my passions, I am able to find and prepare for a path that is more suited to me, giving me the foundation to begin my entrepreneurial career. I was able to do that. .
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63% of teens are open to options other than college, but only 13% feel prepared to choose a career path after high school. Stories like mine show that this doesn’t have to be the case.
My school offered classes where you could develop your interest in the arts, such as videography and photography, and learn about a topic of your choice, such as how to run a business. When I talked to my friends from other schools, I realized that this is very rare.
My teachers were an important source of support for me. I was initially worried that they would judge me and think I wasn’t as ambitious as my peers pursuing higher education. Instead, they provided me with guidance and explored with me what career I wanted to pursue so I could understand if I needed college to get there. Ta.
As I narrowed down my work to photography, a hobby that has been a passion of mine since I was young, I became more and more convinced of my initial instincts. University wasn’t appealing to me and I would have had to take on a lot of debt. Meanwhile, I was beginning to learn the skills needed to run my own business, such as how to speak powerfully and meaningfully with clients, manage projects for the company, work with digital assets, and get along with colleagues. .
In third grade, my teachers encouraged me to contact local business owners to hear about their career paths and get advice on preparing to start my own company.
My high school had a program where you could study a topic of your choice. You learned how to use business management platforms like Adobe Portfolio and Google Workspace to track customer relationships and improve the user interface to make your business website easier to navigate. In my statistics class, I learned about debt-to-income ratios and how to apply them to my future career. One of my teachers hired me to take portraits of him and his family, giving me practical practice as a photographer.
The fact that my school offers a strong arts program also helped me fine-tune my photography skills. A digital media class taught her visual marketing techniques, while a sewing class introduced her to color theory and improved her attention to detail.
At the end of my senior year, when I walked across the stage to receive my diploma, I truly felt ready to launch my own photography and video production business.
Like me, the majority of high school graduates in 2023 did not choose to pursue a four-year college degree. But many people don’t have access to the programs and resources that prepared me for success. About two-thirds say they would have benefited from more career exploration in middle school or high school.
That needs to change. No matter what path they choose, all students deserve the opportunity to grow and develop. By offering a variety of career paths, including expanded career and technical education classes that integrate technical skills taught in the classroom, entrepreneurship programs, and comprehensive college instruction, the school empowers all students to create their own path to success. You can make it discoverable in .
I will be going back to high school soon, but this time I will be working as a professional videographer instead of as a student. I decided to film students and teachers as part of a promotional video my school is making. I am proud to be able to use the skills I have learned to give back to the school and support future students in the same way the school has supported me. I hope my story will encourage other schools to add programs focused on skills that prepare students for a wide range of careers, whether they pursue higher education or not.
