There are lots of changes that happen during a student’s high school years. In freshman year, they are introduced to a new environment. They meet teachers and classmates, start new friendships, and are introduced to the treacherous final exams. Sophomores get their driver’s license, and have the opportunity to take AP classes. Juniors enter their last two years of high school. Seniors apply for college and decide what they want to do with the rest of their life. They are at the end of their four years, and are getting ready to start a new era of their life.
High school forces kids to think about the future; to look at their college years and beyond. As people think about the rest of their lives, a common question tends to come to mind: “What do I want to do before I die?” Or, in other words, “What’s on my bucket list?”
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the term “bucket list” means “a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.” These experiences and achievements range from simply “getting into college” to “going skydiving”. Fulfilling these goals gives someone a sense of accomplishment and pride. Unfortunately, 92% of people who set goals fail to achieve them, according to inc.com. We polled students, asking them how confident they are in achieving their goal. Groves students were asked to pick a number 1-5. (“1,” being: “not sure the goal will happen,” to “5” being: “goal will definitely be accomplished”.) Although there is no promise for the future, 100% of the students have answered “3” and above. So, what’s on their bucket list?
Groves sophomore Charlisa Penzak answered a “5” with a similar goal. She “wants to travel the world with [her] future family.” She is interested in “experiencing new cultures and foods,” and hopes to have a good time. This goal requires lots of money and time. 58% percent of people in the U.S can’t afford to go on trips around the world, and only 0.02% of the people around the world manage to travel to every continent. While Penzak is confident, there’s no guarantee that she will ever accomplish her goal.
Stella Minna, a freshman at Groves High School, answered “4” on the poll, her goal being to own her own business. She loves the idea of seeing her own creation grow and expand. Unfortunately, like traveling the world, starting a business is very difficult. Explodingtopics.com states that “Over the long run, 90% of startups fail. In other words, only one in 10 traditional businesses in the startup category ultimately survive.” Failure can result in serious financial costs and a lack of self confidence.
Alex Edgar, a freshman at Groves, wants her dream job. “I want to become a psychologist or psychiatrist.” According to summer.harvard.edu, Psychology is considered a hard major, requiring lots of analysis and reading. Psychology majors are required to also conduct experiments, which many students struggle with. Despite psychology being a difficult major, psychiatry is even harder. Psychiatry can be “highly stressful,” because a psychiatrist would be helping mentally ill patients, which can lead to “extremely emotional sessions”, and/or “burnout and secondary trauma response.” According to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, psychiatrists quit their jobs because of “patient violence and suicide” and “high work demands.” All of this makes psychiatry a very mentally and emotionally taxing job.
There will always be challenges when reaching a goal. Sometimes it’s a low pass rate in a class, or it’s data telling someone that most people fail when starting something new. It is up to the individual to decide if completing, or attempting to complete the goal is worth it. Traveling to new places might cost someone lots of money and time, but it’ll give them memories to hold and share for the rest of their lives. Starting a business may be time consuming and mentally draining, but if achieved, it’ll give a person pride and a sense of accomplishment. Going for the dream job may be stressful, but getting the dream job allows someone to stay true to themselves, and allows them to do what they love. Having a bucket list is meant to fulfill someone, and to complete the bucket list ensures to give them pride and closure before they die. Unfortunately, statistics say that 92% of people that make a bucket list fail to achieve them. Prove the data wrong and strive to be the 8%, so that you can fulfill your dreams.
