SOUNDBITE OF “Pomp and Circumstances”

TIFFANY TRAN, HOST: 

Welcome back to SCPS – SILVER CREEK PODCASTING STATION. I’m Tiffany Tran, and I’m very delighted to say that this will be my very last episode! (laughter) 

As a senior at Silver Creek, I’m set to graduate on June 3rd, along with a few hundred other students. Within those few hundred, there are at least 90% of us who’ve heard that question, “what are your plans after high school?” Now, there are a number of us who know for sure what they’ll do, and that’s great! They have a solid plan for their future and I can’t help but to be happy for them. And there are a few of us who really don’t have any idea what we want to do, or what we CAN do. And that’s okay too! Life is a game and we’re having fun with it; no need to plan out the details. 

As students in general, a lot of us are faced with the reality that life is moving along really fast, and that overwhelming pressure of the coming future can be stressful or distressing. Whether it be the pressure of waiting on a college admission, DECIDING on a college, moving out or not moving out, finding a job, finding a place to live, financial pressures, et cetera. We’re often also faced with pressure from the people around us, such as our friends and family. I know my own parents once pressured me to go to a good college or just go to college in general. 

Making choices for the future is really, really difficult. Most of the time it comes with extra preparation. Like if you decide on going to a good college or just apply to colleges, you have to take the SATs, ACTs, write essays, all of that. If you want to buy a house, you have to figure out how you’re going to get that money, learn where the best places to live are, near or far from your parents or guardians, et cetera. The point is, the choices presented to us are thrown at us all at once, and we’re to smartly decide on what we really want to do in a limited amount of time. That pressure is enough to make anyone cry. But once we’re all prepared, that relief is God-sent. Trust me. 

What about the good things? The things that really matter, the light at the end of the tunnel? (laughter) 

For some of us, we get to go to a brand new school. For example, my good friend Kevin Lam just got accepted into the Naval Academy, and he’ll have to move to Annapolis. But I’ll be representing those of us who aren’t going to college. I’m going to be taking a gap year because the COVID situation is still unstable and no one knows for sure what will happen yet, and I don’t want to do online school ever again. I’ll maybe work more hours and spend my time working on auditions. 

Or for others, they might be going to a new school in California, just a few hours away. Either way, we’re moving on from high school into this new place that we’ll get familiar with. We’ll get to meet new friends there, study some more, maybe even find a life long partner. Or, for some of us, we might be staying at a current job or working full time, busy making money, maybe go to vocational school, taking a gap year, maybe just having the time of our lives by carrying on living as we are now. Doesn’t matter what we’ll be doing, just that none of us can deny that we’ll be introduced to a completely new environment as adults. While that sounds intimidating, I’ll admit on behalf of the rest of the graduating class that it’ll be more fun than what we’ve had before. 

This has been Tiffany from SCPS, Silver Creek Podcasting Station. Thank you all once again for making these podcasts possible. See you again one day!