Bengals Bound: Weighing in on Life After High School

For us Seniors, the future is slowly becoming the past. Graduation is casting its hopeful and blinding light, but many of us are following different paths after June 12. There are so many other options nowadays other than going to a four-year college/university. It would help to know what’s out there and the basis behind some of these decisions.

Senior Isa Casteneda will take a more methodical approach and enlist in the military after high school. Isa will go to boot camp for 10 weeks and transfer directly into the Army shortly thereafter. Isa explains that “[he] was interested by the travel options and exciting jobs there”. The decision was mainly influenced by him wanting to try something new. “I’m really not interested in doing school for a while and I like the orderly nature of the Army,” Isa said, mainly jaded by the mundane routine. His end goal is to “settle down,” stating that if he “works long enough in the military then [he’ll] get a pension so [he] can be set”. 

Senior Rivaldo Mancia takes a more ordinary approach and will do two years at a community college and then transfer to a university. Rivaldo’s primary reason for this decision was “to save money and have time to think about what career [he] [wants]”. After the fact, Rivaldo states that he’ll “probably get a full-time job in something that interests [him]” and “build a career in something [he’s] passionate about”. The decision came to Rivaldo over the summer. “After considering how much money I’d be spending, and being unsure of what to major in I figured starting at MC (Montgomery College) would be a good stepping stone.” 

Senior Aiden Devlin will be taking a gap year after graduating high school. The decision to take a gap year wasn’t initially what Aiden had in mind. “It was something I decided as time went on, I originally was going to go straight to college”, he states. The decision came after a desire to “take a break from academics,” as he says he  “mainly wants a break from the stress of school so [he] can take time to travel… sightsee and all that”. He is confident in his decision to take a year to himself, stating, “I’m very certain this is what I want to do”. Ultimately, Aiden sees himself returning to school after this gap year, saying  “[he is] going to enroll in Montgomery College for the 2025-2026 school year”.

Senior Nicholas Stipp will go to The Catholic University of America for four years after graduating high school, pursuing a Master’s in Architecture. Nicholas’ passion for architecture drove his decision and he cites his dad as a major influence. “Just seeing how hard he worked and how cool the plans were really captivated me at a young age and I grew an aspiration to the construction trades and figured architecture was for me,” he explains. Along with going to college, he will also be doing an internship at an architectural office during the summer for the next four years. When asked about his ultimate end goal, Nicholas stated “Being able to sustain my family while following the road that God paved for me, making enough money to live comfortably…and doing what I love to do.”

It was interesting hearing the insight from these four students on all of their paths, all very different. We wish these four and the rest of our Bengal class of 2024 the best of luck in any future endeavors they will pursue!