What do you want to be when you grow up?

This is a question many face at a young age and don’t realize that, one day, they will actually have to decide. While for some, the answer has been simple and the same all along. For others, the road has been a little bumpier. Across the senior class, there are three types of people you will meet regarding this question. The first type of person is someone like Jess Riniti ’14, someone who has had her heart set on what she wanted to be since a little girl.

In kindergarten, Riniti was inspired by her teacher’s ability to transform an educational classroom into a warm and welcoming environment that truly helped the students learn. In class she was given an activity where she had to write about what she wanted to be when she was older. Riniti said that at that moment, it “just clicked” as she realized she wanted to be teacher.

“I absolutely love helping kids,” Riniti said. “Nothing is better than seeing the looks on their faces when they finally understand a new concept.”

Since that young age of five, it has been clear to Riniti that elementary education is the path she wanted to pursue.

The second type of person is someone like Maddy Rozynek ’14, someone who changed her mind.

When people asked Rozynek what she wanted to be when she grew up, the answer was not as clear-cut for her as it was for Riniti. While Rozynek is a vital member of Staples Players, at the beginning of her high school career, she didn’t think musical theater would be the college major for her.

Her love of theater originally drove Rozynek chose to audition for musical theater schools. But, due to all the anxiety and stress attached to auditions, she real- ized she did not want to have to constantly handle that lifestyle as an actress. Rozynek ultimately decided to follow in her parent’s footsteps, both of whom were involved in radio, and pursue communications instead.

“I grew up listening to the talk show hosts and jammin’ to different songs, and think I would rather use my theatre in another way. For example, maybe being either a talk show host or a producer,” Rozynek said.

The third type of person is someone like Charlie Jersey ’14, someone who is still not sure.

“Maybe engineer, maybe venture capitalist, maybe research scientist,” Jersey said. “But after a while, say, when I’m 60, I’d like to become a professor. That much I do know.”

Jersey has not yet decided on his career because he is “99 percent positive” that the courses he takes in college will change his thinking on life. The only thing that he is sure of is that he wants to go into science, a field he has been interested in since a young age. To prepare himself for this, he spent his time at Staples taking many of the advanced science and math classes offered. Overall, he has taken six science classes and five math classes.

Like Jersey, both Riniti and Rozynek have utilized the resources offered at Staples to help prepare them for their career. Riniti took advantage of her internship as she is working with her kindergarten teacher, the one who inspired her to become a teacher.

“I want to get as much practice and field experience as possible because I learn best from experience,” Riniti said.

Like Rozynek and Jersey, Riniti has big dreams, big plans, and a big future ahead for her after high school graduation; she will do anything it takes to suc- ceed and turn the ideas and goals in her mind into reality.