Our decisions define what we're made of

Four years of challenging academia, diligent multitasking and unforgettable friends and memories are finally coming to a close for high school seniors. However, those long and hard years are only ushering in the beginning of one of life's toughest challenges.

Sutter Union High School seniors are now being faced with a task like no other, a horrid, arduous task where last-minute study sessions and procrastination can no longer carry us. This undertaking is college, it is our career, our future and our life.

Hailed as the stage and place where youths become intellectual, well-minded adults, college is an awakening experience. Yet one of the most difficult obstacles that most of us high school students face is merely choosing which college to attend.

For many SUHS seniors, the past few months have been filled with neverending campus visits, scholarship applications and interviews.

SUHS senior Lauren Weatherly said, "It's incredibly hectic trying to get all of our scholarship applications in while trying to keep up with our school work and college visits. There always seems like there is another deadline, no matter how many applications we turn in."

In enduring the current chaos of college and scholarship applications, we are truly extending to our full potential, readying ourselves to forge our own direction around any current or future barrier. But despite all of this work and preparation, SUHS seniors are still confronted with hundreds of inevitable dilemmas.

Do we stay close to home, our friends and family, or do we take our opportunity to explore the world around us? Is prestige or higher education worth the extra cost, or should we take the cost-efficient route and attend a community college? And what about other considerations, such as a specific college for our major; location; private or public; or even seemingly minuscule things such as weather?

We are finding ourselves bombarded with hundreds of choices and decisions that will ultimately change our lives.

When asked how she feels about attending an out-of-state college, SUHS senior Cori Walker said, "I'm sad that I'm leaving everything here behind, but that sadness is outweighed by my excitement for the new experiences I will face as I take a step toward college and the beginning of the rest of my life."

Yes, whatever decisions we make will affect us significantly; however, our four high school years of persistent work ethic, social bonding, accomplishments, triumphs and failures have amalgamated to prepare us for this major step into our future.

By no means do I mean that any of these choices will be easy, but we have been equipped through the years with the skills and abilities to accept whatever outcome results.

As these next few months progress and seniors continue to determine their college paths, we should remember that, as stated by Andrew Ryan, "We all make choices, but in the end, our choices make us."

Kelsey Bradley is a senior at Sutter Union High School. Her column appears about every sixth week in Education.