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High School Seniors Trying to Deal with Altered End-Of-Year
Plans
Sojourners Truth Staff
“It’s been a big
heartbreak for most people,” says Noe Ramos, a senior at
Start High School, of his interrupted final year of
secondary education and the loss of events which seniors and
their families eagerly anticipate. “For my mom especially,”
he adds.
Noe is headed to the
University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima in the fall –
hopefully – to study robotics and automotive technology –
his passion, indeed his trade, for the past several years.
In fact, he has been taking trade classes in precision
machinery and working at “a great job” – G.L. Heller
Company in Whitehouse – in robotics for the past year.
“It’s been very
disappointing but you can’t control what’s going on in the
world,” says Noe. “We are going to have to fight adversity
later in life. This is helping us to learn. A lot of people
will disagree with me but this is opening us up to the real
world – you can’t always have things your way.”
Preparation for the end of
senior year – the prom, the graduation ceremony, the photos,
the long goodbyes – are what most high schoolers have been
focused on for much of their four years. Noe has been
similarly focused.
Football, cross country
and track have kept Noe busy for much of his high school
years. This year he was part of the SMARTS group – Students
Making Adjustments Right This Second – a
student
voice program that encourages students to work together to
support their schools and their community.
And, lately, of course, he’s worked at staying optimistic
about what the future holds.
“I’m looking at it and trying to be positive. If you go to
college, sooner or later you will graduate,” says the
college-bound senior. Not everyone close to him, however, is
quite so sanguine about recent events.
“My mom still wants
pictures in cap and gown.”
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