Guest post contributed by Bethany Higa (’18)
ISLAND PACIFIC ACADEMY’s (IPA) graduating class of 2018 consists of forty-two hardworking, passionate, and generous students. For the past four years, these students have been dedicated to learning about themselves and who they want to be. Now that this long period of discovery is about to end, it is time for them to say goodbye to their teachers and friends and travel down the yellow brick road to college.
The seniors have become a close-knit family through triumphs such as the completion of the new student center, The Great Gatsby Prom and winning Spirit Week 2018, as well as hardships such as applying for college, writing and completing IA’s (Internal Assessments) for IB, and losing Spirit Week three years in a row.
A survey was conducted to provide insight into the seniors’ choice of college and field of study they plan to major in. Some students are going to California while others are going to New York and even Japan. The survey also returned a broad range of majors from healthcare to education.
With the exception of a few, each student will be moving to new places to achieve their goals. Shania Bravo, the senior class president, is hopeful her class will pursue their own ambitions.
“I hope that everyone accomplishes whatever dream they are chasing and that they end up happy wherever they are,” said Bravo.
One student following his dream is Johnathan Ricard who wants to become a pilot and study at the University of North Dakota. Ricard chose the University of North Dakota because they are one of the top schools for aviation. He wants to explore and getting his commercial aviation degree is just the first step.
“Growing up I’ve always wanted to travel because being stuck on this island hasn’t really given me that chance to explore. So, by becoming a pilot, I can be able to travel and discover new things about the world rather than just being [stuck] here,” said Ricard.
Unlike Ricard, Zac Tocher and Keegan Tomonaga are both going to attend Seattle University and major in English.
Tocher doesn’t know what he wants to be yet, but he is considering using his degree to become a teacher or work in broadcasting. Unlike Tocher, Tomonaga’s dream is to work in publishing.
“I’ve always had a dream of being a publisher [ ] starting off working in a publishing house would be really cool. Bigger dream I guess is one day to have my own publishing house…definitely something [working] in the publishing industry,” said Tomonaga who, like Tocher, hopes to be the first in her family to graduate with a degree.
“My mom didn’t go to college. She didn’t graduate high school and she made it really clear to me that [ ] was a really big mistake for her and [that it] made it really hard [on her]. It was [ ] something where she showed me that college isn’t necessary but it’s definitely helpful and it makes things a lot easier. I think that[‘s] why I kinda wanted to go to college,” said Tomonaga.
Wanting to change that, Tocher and Tomonaga chose to take a different path from their relatives. For Tocher, IPA has taught him many lessons.
“Not many people know this, but my brother dropped out of high school and my sister completed high school in 5 years. They never went to college and I think the one thing that IPA really shaped me into and like developed me as is a hard worker and keeping a strong work ethic because if I didn’t have that, I probably wouldn’t have passed,” said Tocher.
Ricard, Tocher and Tomonaga are just three of the forty-two graduating seniors heading off to college. Although they may be leaving their friendly fights and surprising group hugs, there is no place like their IPA home where their friends will always be.
“[We’re] like one big family— we fight sometimes but we never stop loving each other,” said Bravo.
