By Brittani Wheeler
<[email protected]>

A whirlwind of college applications forced seniors to hit the ground running at the beginning of this school year. These applications allowed the seniors a glimpse at the future and helped heighten the boiling anticipation of the final days of high school with graduation only mere days away and college little more than months. The buzzword on the tip of every senior tongue was “college.” Like my peers, I succumbed to the obsession and bunkered down at the kitchen table for hours with the computer. I forced my wandering mind to focus on applications and ended up applying to a whopping three colleges: IU, Purdue and Southern Methodist University. Then came the waiting game.

Fast-forwarding through the school year, I received all three anticipated acceptances. When I mentioned these letters to my friends, I received nods and slightly happy shrugs, as my two state schools and one private school did not compare to their revered Ivy League aspirations. Yet I was still proud of myself and began my uphill battle for financial aid and scholarships.

As the looming May 1 enrollment deadline clouded this high school’s senior hall skies, students began finding letters in the mail accepting and declining them from various schools. When they made these grand announcements to their peers of the Ivy League big name schools in the morning or at lunch, they were greeted by heartfelt cries of condolence or the better clapping and hoots of joy. I was proud too, I really was, but at the same time, I was being eaten up. No one had given me a big hug when I was accepted; no one cared when IU offered me the Prestige Scholarship. Each time, though, I would think I was being selfish, so I would continue to offer my own slightly morose halfhearted congratulations.

Then the time of decisions quickly encroached. My final decisProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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n came two weekends ago with enrollment deposits deadlines tomorrow. I decided that due to economic times and financial commitments that IU would be the logical decision. This school was also a benefit as it is a large school that is strong in a broad range of academic areas and social opportunities. I proudly announced to my friends that next year I would join the ranks of cream and crimson and was greeted not with immediate grins and pats on the back but questions of “why?”

For me this Carmel mentality on college killed the IU excitement. According to the 2008-2009 profile for this school of the Class of ’08, 75 percent of the college-bound students here went to an in-state college with only 18 percent of the college-bound students enrolling in out-of-state schools. With this high of a percentage of students going in-state or pursuing other careers and opportunities after high school, it is imperative to remember that each person has pursued the same tough K – 12 journey and each individual who crosses the stage on May 31 this year deserves a genuine “Congratulations!” It is not important where a student goes after leaving this school, but it is what that student does with his or her situation when they leave. Utilize the opportunities offered next year and have fun.

No matter where each student of our class is headed from Ivy League to in-state to immediately diving into a career, each one is brave enough to face this gigantic world to pursue a dream. Congratulations Carmel High School Class of ’09! Good luck next year. Brittani Wheeler is a managing editor for the HiLite. Contact her at [email protected].