It’s graduation season! Many people are celebrating the accomplishments of high school and college seniors as they embark on the next phases of their lives both personally and academically. I wanted to take a moment and celebrate the accomplishments of two high school seniors in Indianapolis, one from a public charter school and one from a traditional public school. In this first installment, I interviewed Charles A. Tindley Accelerated High School Salutatorian Adyson Gregory.
David McGuire: How does it feel to be a high school graduate?
Adyson Gregory: I actually don’t feel very different than I did as a high school student. If anything, the rush of excitement and surrealism that I felt during my final weeks in school all but evaporated the second I crossed the graduation stage and was holding my diploma. I am still very excited to be a college student obviously, but while I was in high school it was as if I couldn’t believe that there was anything after high school and now that I have graduated, I realized that it was just another stage of life as I work towards my success.
DM: What about your high school experience would you change?
AG: I would change the structure of my senior year of high school. There was simply too much work and stress as I attempted to cope with the fact that I was a Tindley senior. The work that Tindley commands from their students while expecting that we also balance employment, extracurricular, and college while attempting to write 2-3 five-page essays every two weeks was unreasonable without expecting the students to struggle at least in one aspect of their life and oftentimes we struggled with completing the school work in a timely fashion because we were all focused on applying and paying for college.
DM: What are your plans now that high school is over?
AG: Now that I have graduated, I have found employment at SubZero Ice Cream and will be acquiring money for college, but I will also be relaxing before starting college. I have been spending time with my friends before we all go our separate ways for school. Once I get to school, I plan on majoring in psychology with minors in Spanish and theatre as I discover who I am, what I love, and what I want to do for the rest of my life.
DM: Why do you feel it is important to go to college after high school?
AG: It was not always a necessity to go to college, but in present society, it is important to obtain that education in order to find the job that you want while making decent money. While it is possible to find jobs without college, most employers are now looking for people who have a quality education.
DM: How do you feel your high school prepared you for college?
AG: Tindley was basically a miniature college, besides the excessive rules. The workload that we had will prepare us as we go to college because we are accustomed to having a large workload and know how to handle it. I am in Purdue’s Honors College and I have to complete a Capstone Project to graduate Purdue and fortunately, I spent my entire senior year completing a Capstone Project, so I will be prepared for the work.
DM: What advice do you have for those juniors who are now high school seniors?
AG: I will tell the juniors to ensure that they do not let senioritis get the best of them. Senioritis is the reason that I went from having only one B my entire life to having three my last semester in high school. Make sure that you don’t procrastinate and plan ahead. Make sure you know what deadlines and assignments are coming up so that you are not bombarded with a large workload.
DM: In ten years, where do you hope to be and what do you hope to be doing?
AG: In ten years, I hope to be in the middle of my doctorate degree. I hope that I have a clear vision of what I want to do and I continue to work towards it as I complete my next degree. I want to be someone who has finally left the United States to see the world that God made for us. I want to see more of the world than the city I grew up in and I have faith that that will happen in the next ten years.