BRENDANBENSON

What are your post-graduation plans?

My post-graduate plans are to join the electrician union when I turn 19 because right now I’m currently apprenticing with a family friend.

How did you make your decision?

It took a while. There’s a couple of reasons, mostly the money. When I took VoTech, it came to me as one of those things that wasn’t too hard to do. But also, not a lot of people were able to do it th same way I did it.

How would you describe your post-grad search?

Just realizing that I did need to make a decision soon coming out of high school. It’s one of the easiest things to do to make money without going to college, or going to a cheap college just to get a license.

What advice do you have?

Keep your eyes open for as long as you can but don’t keep them open so long that you close doors, or too late. Keep your options open, but know your deadlines.

What are your post-graduation plans?

I’m going to an Art School—School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

How did you make your decision?

I had a really big space and marine biology phase in middle school and early high school, but once I got more serious about art, I knew I wanted to pursue it. What I like about Chicago, specifically, is the school offers you a BFA, no matter what classes you take, which I think is pretty important. A lot of schools have pathways… I think that since art is always changing, especially with AI, it’s important that you’re qualified in more than one subject. How would you describe your post-grad search?

I went to a lot of open house things, and I just applied all over, to be honest. I applied to MICA really last minute, and Chicago really last minute because I didn’t really do my research, but I just I thought they were good schools for what I was interested in.

What advice do you have?

I would say definitely research which path you want to take. Illustration is really confusing because it’s honestly just an umbrella term for commercial art and whether you want to be a freelance illustrator or work under a company…There’s multiple categories under that. That was like what was kind of confusing for me because I was like, isn’t everything illustration?

What are your post-graduation plans?

I’m going to college. Champlain College in Burlington. How did you make your decision?

I think it just had the right location and the majors that it offered, because I’m majoring in game design. So it had a good program for that.

How would you describe your post-grad search?

It wasn’t that bad. Actually, my family hired a counselor. So she kind of helped me to look through stuff and fill out applications. For my major, I had to make a portfolio kind of thing. So I made a board game. I think that’s the hardest part.

What advice do you have?

I think it’s important to know where you want to be, location wise. Like if you want big populations or [small] populations.*

We are desensitized

A community is about everyone

Matthew Chen ‘23

There are only two things that I know are good: Saying hello and smiling— actions I don’t always do well.

The Strath Haven student council election season comes with promises of more inclusivity, more diversity, and in general—more change.

I’m excited that so many students want to improve Strath Haven’s community. Inspired even.

But what good are promises of change if we’re unsure what needs changing? What good is one’s campaign if their success is determined by how many friends they have?

I think our school as a whole should reevaluate what a community means.

Two Strath Haven students have died in the last four years. The district administration responded to the death of Zykee Carmichael with an email.

My point is that tragedy is apparent, but recognition of it is not.

The administration’s brief response to Carmichael’ss death reflects the desensitization of everyone at Strath Haven.

I think that even within the microcosm of our school, we’ve seen and heard about so much tragedy. And with each consecutive painful event, we’ve become less caring and more prone to indifference. This desensitization is heightened by the constant flow of tragic events in the media.

If we don’t acknowledge this collective desensitization, only the closest friends of those suffering will experience grief and shock. If we don’t acknowledge the pain in our student body, our students will