By Morgan Brang, Meghan Byrnes, Carly Stone, Abby Shaw, and Emily Hauser
“There is a part of me that is scared but an even larger part that is excited to go to college,” said senior Julia Slisz, one of the 228 Jamesville-DeWitt High School students that will be graduating this June. Slisz has voiced a feeling that many students have as they decide where they will end up next year. Many seniors have committed to colleges for sports and others are aiming to pursue their childhood dream jobs.
The opportunity for students to continue their athletic careers in college is something that many people are planning to take advantage of. Whether they go Division I, II, or III, each athlete has worked hard in high school to get them to their future destination. Senior Brady Wing plans to attend Wilkes University in Pennsylvania next year to play baseball. “I’m really excited for next year,” said Wing, “I think that (baseball) will be a great way to meet people and it will help me with managing my time next year.”
Like Wing, senior Caroline Kopp will be playing a sport in college. After months of back and forth between several colleges, Kopp decided to join the University at Albany’s women’s soccer team, a Division I program. “(Playing soccer) will be fun. I’m a competitve person and it’s a competeive program so I think it should be a great fit for me,” said Kopp. Seniors Jake Eich and Dom DeRegis played basketball together during high school, but will go their separate ways next year. Eich plans to play lacrosse at SUNY Cortland, while DeRegis will play basketball at St. Lawrence University. Both Eich and DeRegis are considering studying Business next year. “It’s a good major and seems to be popular. I think it will be good to combine with a second major” said Eich who is also thinking about studying Sports Exercise.
SUNY colleges and universities are always a popular choice among J-DHS seniors because of the financial advantages they offer. Izzy Melton plans on attending SUNY Geneseo next year along with seniors Josh Frank and Hunter Siegel. Siegel plans on studying political science and psychology while Melton is undecided, like many of her classmates. Siegel was attracted to SUNY Geneseo not only because of it’s cost but because of what it offers for his future. “I want to go into the political realm and I think it offers a lot of internships through the SUNY program and I like that a lot.”
Like Frank, Siegel, and Melton, senior Julie Harrison will also be attending a SUNY school, SUNY Plattsburgh. Harrison, unsure of her major, liked how she could get such a good education for such a cheap price. As of now, Harrison has pre-college jitters but is sure that once she arrives on campus, she’ll love every second of it. Ben Cohen will be venturing off to SUNY Binghamton next fall in order to study politcal science. “I’m im pretty excited to get out of Syracuse,” said Cohen.
A popular school amongst the senior class, much like last year, is St. John Fisher College. Senior Alyssa Robens, a successful basketball player for J-DHS, gets to continue playing for the next four years as a Cardinal. Although Robens did not make her decision early on, she knew that she liked the campus the first time she saw it. “I’ve liked the school’s campus since junior year,” said Robens. Joining her will be several of her classmates, including seniors Gabby Simiele, Cole Fowler and Jack Fennell. Fennell has decided that he will be studying political science. Fennell is most looking forward to a new crowd of people and interesting classes. “I am excited to take classes that I actually want to take and to be around a new set of people,” said Fennell.
While schools within New York State are popular among the class of 2015, many people are planning to leave the state and start a new beginning outside of New York as well. Senior Anna Smith has decided to go to University of Delaware to study Supply Chain Managment. Since Supply Chain Management isn’t offered at many colleges, Smith had to widen her variety of cities and states past the New York State border. Senior Cortney Vaughan is attending George Washington University in the fall which is located in Washington D.C. “I got a good scholarship and got into the Elliott School of International Affairs, which is good because I want to study international affairs,” says Vaughan. Vaughan is excited to be in D.C because she says there will be many job opportunities for her career. Slisz is also going out of the state for college. Slisz is going to study cognitive science at Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, Maryland. “I’m excited but nervous,” says Slisz.
Leaving the east coast is not as popular, but senior Bella Hylen will be leaving the region and going to the state of Michigan. “It’s a family school,” said senior Hylen about her decision on attending Michigan State University. Hylen is planning on majoring in either criminal justice or education; she is still undecided. Hylen also mentioned how she is excited to see all of her cousins who live near the university and meet a lot of new people because the university has so many students.