After high school, the next phase.
Grade 12 grads all set to work, travel, seize adventures
The end of school years marks the beginning of the next phase of life for Grade 12 graduates, most of whom finished writing final exams last week — for the final time. Now, there are decisions to be made.
To go back to school in the fall to start post-secondary studies? To take a year off and work? To take a year off and travel? Skip post-secondary altogether and find a full-time job? None of the above? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
It’s hard to know what to do when you’re 17, 18 years old and the future looms so large, demanding answers to questions about what you have planned for the next 20, 30 or more years of your life, and even beyond. We asked some Edmonton-area Grade 12 grads to talk about their next step.
Edmonton’s Madison Krupa will host ocean-going tea parties this summer dressed as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or — who knows? — possibly even the raven-haired Snow White.
“I have red hair and freckles, so I look nothing like her,” laughs the Strathcona High School grad. “I always saw myself as Ariel, or maybe Tinkerbell.”
Still, anything’s possible in the magic kingdom, and she’ll find out the identity of her alter ego soon enough.
Last week, just days after writing the very last exam of her school life, the 18-yearold boarded a plane to Toronto for two months of training for her new job. From there, she’ll wing her way to Florida to board one of Disney Cruise Lines’ luxury liners.
Earlier this spring, Disney offered Krupa a contract as a character performer, a job she landed right out of high school, with a little help from her fairy godmother.
“I tried out for several things, dance-wise, and they all told me I was too short,” says the five-foot-one Krupa. “My dance teacher (Laurie Alsten) worked for Disney for a long time and she said: ‘Go for Disney; they’ll take short people.’”
She took her advice. The teenager had always imagined a career in the performing arts, right from the time she was very young. She loved musical theatre, and had a strong background in dance, so the chance to put the word “Disney” on her resume was a no-brainer.
Earlier this spring, she and her dad flew to New York so she could attend Disney’s open-call audition. When she arrived at the downtown dance studio, she was among a group of 200 performers.
By the time rehearsals ended, she was one of only 20 left standing. By the time the people at Disney made the final cuts a couple of weeks later, she was back in Edmonton, throwing a spring-break breakfast for a bunch of friends.
“I didn’t know how to react when they called (to offer me the job); I thought they were joking at first,” she says recalling the moment. “It was very surreal.” She laughs. “I was on pancake duty at the time — and let’s just say some of them got burned.”
On board the ship, Krupa will be performing in the thrice-daily shows as well as posing with guests for photographs and hosting princess tea parties for wide-eyed little children.
It promises not only to be the adventure of a lifetime, but the beginning of a successful happily-ever-after career.
“I’m going to be the youngest (performer) so I’m a bit nervous,” she says. “But it’s going to be very exciting, too.”
Reese Perro plans to get a degree in business.
For the moment, though, he’s focusing on the business of earning money.
After years of bugging him for a summer job, the 17-yearold Archbishop O’Leary grad finally talked his grandpa into hiring him to work in his construction business.
“I’m excited to start working full time,” says Perro. “You spend eight hours of your (school) day sitting in class, and some of it can get pretty repetitive. I’m glad to be done, so I can start spending eight hours a day working and getting paid for it.”
He’s not afraid of hard physical work; welcomes it, in fact. His plan is to put his head down, save every penny and work until Mother Nature brings an end to Edmonton’s construction season, probably sometime in October.
“My motivation is the money,” Perro says simply. “By then, I should have a nice stack in my pocket.”
That stack will bankroll his plans to see the world, his first stop a trip to Mexico with this buddies.
After that, who knows where he’ll go? Europe, definitely. He’s always wanted to see the Colosseum in Rome. Germany’s on his list, too, mostly because that’s where his dad’s family is from.
When the money runs out, or maybe even before, Perro plans to return home. That’s when he’ll get down to the business of getting a business degree.
In the meantime, though, he’s ready for an adventure.
“Everyone always says to travel and do everything while you’re still young, before you settle down,” says Perro. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
The last time Naatiya Prakash travelled to India, she delivered some supplies to an elementary school.
Next time, she hopes to build one.
The 17-year-old Bellerose Composite High School grad is heading to the University of Toronto in the fall to study architecture, pursuing a career goal she has had since she was in Grade 9.
Prakash and her family came to Canada from India when she was just four years old. She has returned many times since then, most recently last summer as a volunteer, when she delivered arts and crafts supplies to the elementary school. She spent another two months volunteering at a home for children whose parents were in jail, doing whatever she could, including helping the children with their English skills.
This summer, she’ll be closer to home with friends and family in St. Albert, knowing that the next phase of her life will take her far away, the phase after that even further still.
“Architecture isn’t offered anywhere in Alberta, so I’ve always known I would have to move away,” Prakash says.
Her plan is to earn a master’s degree in architecture, her ultimate goal to put that knowledge to use where it’s needed most.
“I want to use what I learn from my studies to do humanitarian work in developing nations, where the infrastructure is so important,” she says. “I’m hoping to work with organizations to be able to improve schools, hospitals and other necessities.
“It’s something I’ve always been really passionate about,” she says. “I want to go back to India and make an even bigger impact than I did last summer.”
Caleb Sinn’s goal is to join the faculty of science at the University of Alberta in the fall of 2014.
In the more immediate future, the 18-year-old Bev Facey High School grad plans to work full-time for the next four months, play a few gigs with his band, then pack his bags and return to Burundi, Africa, for six months.
He travelled there for the first time last summer, to volunteer at a medical clinic in one of the small villages.
That trip that proved to be transformative in ways he didn’t imagine.
“I’ve always wanted to experience different things,” Sinn says. “I like different perspectives. I realize how well off I am, living in Sherwood Park, and I wanted to give back. I saw people who were living with so much less, almost nothing, really, but who valued the important things in life, like family and community, and were happy with that.
“That was really cool to see. It was a revelation.”
Sinn will be volunteering at a medical clinic this time around, too, albeit one in a different village. He’ll spend two months there, then two months at an international school helping wherever he’s needed. The final two months will be spent with coffee farmers in the region, building new coffee-bean washing stations that will improve the operation of their businesses, and hopefully improve their economic fortunes.
By the time he gets home next summer, it will be time to change gears and focus on university.
“I’m thinking about the faculty of science because I’m interested in biology,” he says, “but I’m keeping my options open.
“A lot of things can change between now and then.”