Every year, PaCC (Pathways to College and Careers), our in-house personal and professional development program for youth apprentices, hosts a celebration of apprentices graduating from high school or college. This year, our celebration took place on Tuesday, May 21, 2019, and we congratulated 13 graduates from across the labs.
Name: Elijah
Lab: Graphics
Graduating from: Highland Park High School
What are your next plans? I’m going to St. Paul College to get my generals and then saving up to transfer to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. What are your three keys to success? Be loud, be proud, be bold. I didn’t change my high school by being quiet. I asked why there was a Prom King and Queen; I wanted to be Queen. And you know what, I won it! I won Prom Queen.
Name: Lili
Lab: Graphics
Graduating from: FAIR High School
What are your next plans? Northland College in Ashland, WI, where I’ll be studying Environmental Sciences and keeping my focus broad to get a better idea of what I want from college in order to be the most productive and find a sense of self-fulfillment. What are your three keys to success? You’re acting like I’ve succeeded…ha! I mean, we’re all still working, and so am I. I feel like maybe that’s a key to success; don’t expect to be able to figure everything out and finish, because that’s not what life is about. You’re always going through transitions, always changing, always learning new things. Be nice to everyone in general, because you don’t know what they’re going through.
Name: Rashinea
Lab: Enviro
Graduating from: Hopkins High School
What are your next plans? I’m going to St. Thomas in St. Paul. I’m interested in going into Social Work for kids. When you’re a kid, life can be really hard. Everything in my experience, that I’ve been through, I want to put into them and give them advice. What are your three keys to success? For high school, I’m going to say: Not giving up. People are always going to try to put their negativity on you. There’s always someone that’s going to be hating on you. Even my teacher at one point made me feel that I wasn’t smart enough to be in an AP class, but I passed that AP class. Just keep it focused, don’t give up, and work hard. Follow through what you want to do. I graduated early!
Name: George
Lab: Graphics
Graduating from: Roosevelt High School
What are your next plans? University of Minnesota, Duluth, College of Biological Sciences (Pre Med) and hopefully transferring to the Twin Cities after that. What are your three keys to success? My 3 keys to success come from a place of regret because a lot of the time I wish I had thought through some of my choices. Three things I made mistakes in and want to work on are: 1. Procrastination. It only sets you up for failure. If you know you have the time to do it, make sure you get your initiative to get it done. 2. Have a drive: make short-term and long-term goals. Set those things up and make sure you reach those checkpoints to keep your peace of mind. This helps clarify your goals for moving forward in life. 3. Time management. I’m really bad at this, but it’s super important for everyday general things.
Name: Egypt
Lab: Graphics
Graduating from: Brooklyn Center High School
What are your next plans? Moorhead State University, studying 3D animation. I want to work for a video game production studio. My big goal is to be an art director at a video game production studio. What are your three keys to success? Just keep pushing forward and make goals for yourself. Second, be careful of the folks you associate with. A lot of times my friends would bring me down and it wasn’t good. They change you in a way and you forget who you are, and you shouldn’t forget who you are. And the third tool I’ve learned is bullshitting…I have ADD and my mind keeps running and running and I forget a lot or get distracted. I don’t mean totally bullshit, but get the information you need to in order to fake it until you make it and it really helps to make it through.
CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATES! ? ?
