Junior Andrea Restrepo: Hey, Longhorns, I’m your host, Andrea Restrepo, and I’m a junior at Parkway West High School. For me, it’s easy to think the future is still far away, but for seniors, those decisions are already happening. In this podcast, I have some seniors joining me speaking about their childhood dreams and how those ideas have changed as they prepare for what comes next.

Restrepo: What’s your name and grade?

Senior Juli Moellenhoff: I’m Juli Moellenhoff, and I’m a senior.

Restrepo: What did you want to be when you were younger?

Moellenhoff: When I was little, I really, really wanted to be an astronaut.

Restrepo: Why did you want to be an astronaut?

Moellenhoff: I really, really just liked space a lot. I thought it was cool. I loved the solar system, and when I found out that Pluto was a dwarf planet, I got really sad, so I wanted to fix it.

Restrepo: What are you going into now that you’re a senior?

Moellenhoff: I’m gonna major in health sciences on an occupational therapy track.

Restrepo: And why did you choose to change from being an astronaut to going into the medical field?

Moellenhoff: When I grew up, I realized that I’m probably not smart enough to be an astronaut, but I knew that the medical field was something I wanted to do, just because I like to help people, and OT is not really like, I’m pretty queasy, so I couldn’t be like a nurse or something, and OT is still like in my goal range.

Restrepo: And where are you going to accomplish that goal?

Moellenhoff: I am going to the University of Kansas.

Restrepo: Why did you choose to do specifically OT?

Moellenhoff: At first, I wanted to do PT, but then I shadowed, and I was like, this is not really for me. And then I looked into more therapy options, and occupational therapy kept coming up, so I looked into it, and I was like, this is pretty interesting. This is something that I would actually like to do and I wouldn’t get bored of.

Restrepo: And now that I’ve spoken to Julie and learned about how she wanted to be an astronaut, and now is going into occupational therapy, I’m going to talk to another senior and see how their plans changed over time.

Restrepo: What’s your name and grade?

Senior Tyler Smith: My name is Tyler Smith, and I’m a senior.

Restrepo: And what did you want to be when you were younger?

Smith: When I was younger, I wanted to be a professional soccer player.

Restrepo: And do you still want to be a professional soccer player?

Smith: I do not want to be a professional soccer player anymore.

Restrepo: Why did you want to do that growing up?

Smith: I always loved soccer, and I thought it was a realistic goal, but pretty quickly I found out that I wasn’t good enough, and I’ve started looking elsewhere.

Restrepo: And did you stick with soccer, even though it stopped being that goal for you?

Smith: Yeah, I played soccer all four years of high school and played club all four years, so I still love soccer, just not professionally.

Restrepo: Yeah, and what are you going into now that you’re a senior?

Smith: I’m going into neuroscience.

Restrepo: And, why did you decide to do that?

Smith: I love my biology classes, and I’ve always been interested in how the brain works. I also always wanted to be a doctor, so when I grow up, I want to be a surgeon, preferably a neurosurgeon.

Restrepo: Was there anything that inspired you to be that, or like something clicked to change.

Smith: Well, my dad is a surgeon, and I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps, but he does like sports injuries, and I wanted to do more intensive care in cognitive stuff.

Restrepo: And where are you going to accomplish that goal?

Smith: I’m going to WashU, hopefully, then go to medical school, and then see where that takes me from there.

Restrepo: As graduation is tomorrow, these ambitions become part of what they will carry beyond high school. Thank you for listening, and to all graduating seniors, best of luck.