by Hailey Sepulvado

Going into high school I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Of course I had passing thoughts of different careers, such as interior designer, marine biologist, or doctor, but none of them stuck. This was the case up until my sophomore year at Sherwood when I took AP NSL and Newspaper. These two classes gave me a direction for my future career.

Since I was little I have been interested in politics. I liked watching presidential debates and discussing politics with others, but I never saw myself going into a career in that area. However, this changed once I started taking AP NSL. I discovered in this class that I loved learning about American government and political issues and that I genuinely enjoyed going to a class. I paid attention and really grasped the information since I was actually interested in it; it was fun! This was a turning point for me to see that it’s actually possible to be excited about learning.

I also started taking Newspaper, yet another class that shaped my future and also defined a lot of my high school experience. I realized that I have a lot of thoughts and opinions about topics that I wanted to talk and write about, and being on the school newspaper staff gave me the opportunity to do that. I didn’t have to follow a strict rubric or do the same assignment as everyone else in the class had to do; I could write about whatever I wanted. Since I was taking AP NSL at the same time that I was taking Newspaper, my mind was overloaded with government and politics. I wrote many articles about current events and some with my opinions on American politics. And now for three years on The Warrior, I’ve still been writing mostly those same kinds of articles. I love being able to learn and write about real things that are going on in the world and country.

I am now about to head off to the University of Delaware where I will be studying political science and journalism. If it wasn’t for those two classes sophomore year, I don’t know what I would be going to college for but I think I would be a little lost since I know so strongly that this is what I am meant to do.