Well its here, high school graduation time for both Pittston Area and Wyoming Area at the end of the week.
Decisions have been made on where students will be going to school this fall or possibly heading for the trades.
These days, I’m not so sure where your ticket to financial and career success lies, but with the cost of education escalating, trade school seems to be the best bet to get an education in a short time, learn a valuable trade, and reap the financial gain by being a tradesman.
Let’s face it, college isn’t for everyone and perhaps if I had another chance in life, I may have chosen a trade.
When I was in school, West Side Tech was popular for those going into the trades and choosing the trades isn’t an easy decision, especially in my high school days. Fellow classmates sort of looked down on students going to Tech. It was almost like treating them as if they were not smart enough to go to college so they had to pick Plan B for a career.
When I was at a crossroad in life, I thought about the military and it seemed the testing I took so I had an aptitude for electronics. I don’t know how or why it was determined electronics suited me, but when you came down to it, electronics was as difficult as learning to speak Russian. It was just down right difficult.
Come to think of it, for much as I enjoy building things, even then you have to have the right smarts in doing so.
I don’t know if it’s a right brain or left brain thing for trades, but back then I think I was just a few molecules short of a full brain anyway.
Even with carpentry, there is a good amount of math involved as well as it is with plumbing.
With electrical, you need math as well as knowing a bunch of other things like electric loads, amperage and watts and a bunch.
I really believe going the trades’ route is a good choice – male or female.
I attended the Wyoming Area Scholarship program the other evening and all the students present went up to the microphone and stated where they were attending college. One said he was going to Johnson Technical School.
He was seated at the back of the room where I was standing and when he sat down I commented to him he was the smart one in the room and his mom nodded yes.
I know you have to follow your passion and dreams, but if you don’t have either at the moment, consider a trade; there is such a deficit of tradespeople that you could probably write your own ticket to success.
Remember those kids that go ridiculed when I went to school? Well, those people drive fancy cars and live in nice houses. I guess they got the last laugh.
I don’t think I want to graduate from college and be in debt up to $200,000. How do you get a mortgage on a house or a loan for a car with that heavy burden to pay back? Not only do you pay it back, but now they give you up to 30-years to pay back your student loan. That is just like a mortgage.
Now that I have all graduates totally depressed, let’s celebrate graduation!
Seriously, for those that have a vision of what their future will look like, good on you! I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, yet, here I am.
Choosing what is right for may not come too easy and if even if you chose the route of college, you may change your major once or even twice.
My eldest daughter started college thinking she wanted to be a meteorologist and she loved weather, just like me, but when it came time for the curriculum, she had a very difficult time with the math. There’s that darn math again.
Here’s the iron twist, she now teaches math – go figure.
I guess the point is, you just never know where you will end up in life career wise, residence wise, or health wise. You just have to just go with the flow no matter where it takes you.
Rest assure, there will be many bumps in life and that will happen as soon as you start school. School will not be a walk in the park, especially if you go away to school and you are away for the first
time. Many of you might head back home after one semester knowing the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
So essentially, what I’m saying is, don’t sweat the small stuff, it will consume you and that can be your demise. Roll with the punches, stay on your toes, do your best, and keep dreaming. Remember, nothing is etched in stone; you have the power to change your destination.
Congratulations and best wishes as you move forward.
Quote of the Week
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.” – Henry David Thoreau
Thought of the Week
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Graduation is a reminder that your inner strength, determination, and values will carry you farther than any title or degree ever could.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bumper Sticker
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
