Leszcynski: Week #8

The Future

As a high school student, the most frequently asked question is, “What do you want to do after high school?” This question is very difficult for students at our age to answer. We are only 16 or 17 years old and this is a huge decision for such a young individual to make. This decision will impact the rest of our lives and will shape our future. It is hard to choose one career path because there are so many options to choose from that seem to be enjoyable. However, by the time we are 18, we are supposed to know exactly what we want to do, and that to me seems a little scary. 

I think I know what I would like to do when I am older. I would like to be an elementary school teacher. I am not exactly sure what grade that I want to teach, but I love little kids. You may ask, “How do you know that is what you want to do?” Well, a few years ago, one of my basketball coaches runs a training league for kids from Kindergarten through 4th grade. He asked me if I would like to help out and teach these kids how to play basketball. As time went on, I started to enjoy working with kids. I love how fun they are to play with and how they are always up to have a fun time. To this day, I still teach kids how to play basketball in the same league. I think that this league opened up my eyes to realize how much I love working with kids. 

Another way I was around little kids a lot was because of my mom’s profession. My mom is a preschool director at a church in Bethlehem. When I was younger, I attended her preschool and then when I got into elementary school, my mom would sometimes let me skip school to go hang out with some of her classes. The teachers of her preschool would always let me read to their kids and play with them. As years went by, I continued to do this all the way through middle school. I loved playing with the younger kids and the teachers loved having me. 

A teacher. I asked myself, “Is that really what you want to do?” One night I had a long talk with my dad. My dad was a 4th Grade teacher at Bangor Area School District. We talked about the benefits of being a teacher. Benefits include summers off, weekends off, never having to work on holidays, good health benefits, work hours 7-3, and many more. He told me there is no better feeling than students telling him, “You are the best teacher ever.” He knows right then and there that he has made an impact on that child’s life. He told me that right there is the reason I teach. 

I hope one day that I will be a very successful teacher and will be able to make an impact on many children’s lives. Even though deciding your career path is hard, once you figure out what you want to do, a huge weight is lifted off of your shoulders. You can finally focus on your future ahead and start to think about what school you would like to go to.