Off the I-15

As I sat in the Barstow Community College gymnasium on Monday night watching the Silver Valley High School graduation ceremony, it occurred to me that my own high school graduation would have been eight years ago if I’d had one. But I never went through a high school graduation of my own. There were plenty of other graduations: grade school, middle school, two and four-year college. But, unlike the 99 people who walked across the stage on Monday, I don’t have a high school diploma.

I left high school in Tucson after my sophomore year, took the G.E.D. test and went straight to community college. I was too smart for my own good, bored by high school, and at the age of 16, I was already impatient to start my adult life. Some people tried to talk me out of it, from my friends at school, to the counselor I talked to at the community college, who went on about how I would miss all the precious memories of high school football games and dances. I wasn’t too worried about it.

At community college, I got to learn about subjects that I picked, in classrooms full of people who wanted to be there bad enough to pay for it. I got my first experience in journalism. I still had my friends and I still made it to four-year college and, eventually, to a “career.” I never regretted making the choice I did.

But that was me. I wouldn’t make a blanket statement that all kids should follow the same path. A lot of people have a great high school experience. Some people look back on those four years as the best of their lives. Some people have great teachers (I had a few, too) who inspire them and pique their interest in topics they never would have looked at otherwise. A lot of people make life long friends.

I don’t think there’s any single “right” direction to take in life, as long as you take the one that feel right to you, utilizes your talents, and makes you happy. The kids I talked to at the Silver Valley graduation seemed excited for the next phase in their lives. I was impressed by how many already knew what direction they wanted to head in, whether it’s fighting fires, running a beauty shop or searching for buried oasis sites in Egypt.

Eight years down the line, they might find they have ended up somewhere completely unexpected, but at least they’re starting out with a dream and a plan.

Abby Sewell | reporter