This year, The Omniscient has been following three seniors, Pedro Becquer-Ramos, Monté Smith and Diane Thompson, on their journey through senior year as they prepare to graduate Northwood and attend college. This is part three of the three-part sequence. To see the beginning of these students’ stories, go to www.nhsomniscient.com.
Diane Thompson
Officially a Morehead-Cain scholar, Thompson has many decisions figured out. She will be attending UNC-Chapel Hill with her full ride scholarship with hopes to study marketing or communications with a minor in education.
“At this point, my future is only a few months away. Now that college is so close, it’s hard for me to think beyond it because I’m sure that I’ll change as I experience all the things college has to offer me,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s decisions were mainly based on money and financial aid at first, but once she was awarded the full ride scholarship to UNC, she saw much more than just the financial aspect.
“Looking into everything that the beautiful Carolina campus has to offer, the biggest influence [in my decision] now is the opportunities that Carolina will provide for me beyond that unknown future after college,” she said. “The biggest weight ever was lifted off my shoulders when I made my decision. The bad part now is that I officially have ‘senioritis.’”
Thompson says that high school has made her more independent, and even though she is ready for the next chapter in her life to begin, there are many things she is going to miss.
“From when I first moved here in seventh grade, a lot of these people have been more like a family than just friends,” Thompson said. “Then there’s the people I don’t hang out with after school, but they still go out of their way to say hey in the hallway or give you a hug if you look like you’re having a bad day. Some of those people, I’m not sure I’ll really see again and that’s who I will miss.”
Thompson advises underclassmen to get involved and have a passion for something, to not make school just a part of the “everyday routine.” She says that if she could sum up high school in one word it would be “opportunity.”
“If you take action and actually take advantage of everything it has to offer you, it has the ability to change your world and your perspective on life,” Thompson said. “But if you just come to school from 8 to 3, don’t get involved and don’t invest yourself in school, you’ve missed the big opportunity and one of the most important ones in your life.”
Monté Smith
Smith has a complicated, but hopeful, plan for his future. He was accepted into UNC-Charlotte, but because he waited too long to apply, he cannot attend UNC-Charlotte until the spring semester. So in the fall, Smith is going to attend UNC-Greensboro and workout and stay in shape so he will be able to play on UNC-Charlotte’s football team his sophomore year. Smith is undecided on what he wants to study, but he says he wants to be a physical therapist.
“At first I was depressed [when I found out about UNC-Charlotte], but then again on the bright side at least I have something to look forward to instead of not knowing at all if I was going to be able to play football,” Smith said. “I will have to go to the weight room a lot and run a lot. The coaches from UNC-Charlotte told me I’m going to have to bust my tail so I won’t get out of shape.”
Although Smith thinks everything happens for a reason, he still thinks back to what could have happened if he had not gotten injured in the beginning of the year.
“I think, of course I would be somewhere different right now if I didn’t injure my knee. I feel like the coaches would have taken a chance with me and I wouldn’t have setbacks,” Smith said. “I feel like my freshman year will be strictly school, but the next year it will be football and training and it will be good.”
Smith says that school and football have both heavily influenced his decision on where to attend college.
“Football has been a part of my life for so long, right now it doesn’t feel right not training for the next season,” Smith said. “I am training, but it’s for the year after next, so it feels kind of weird knowing you’re not going to be on the field next year. My academics are important because I need those to be able to play football, so they tie in together.”
Smith says that financial aid has helped a lot, and that he is working with counselors and his mom to be able to afford college. He says he has taken out loans to help with the costs.
“The sky is the limit as long as I work hard in football and academics, whatever I choose to do, I’m not as stressed as I thought I would be.”
Smith says he is ready for the future, but he will miss parts of high school.
“[I’m going to miss] Friday night lights, the band playing, the crowds, pre-game meals, jokes with Coach Hall; I’m going to miss it a lot,” Smith said.
“I went from thinking some stuff can be given to you to knowing now nothing is given to you. You have to earn everything you want. You have to work.”
Pedro Becquer-Ramos
“Right now I know I have quite a few opportunities; I just want to expand and open them all up,” Becquer-Ramos said.
Becquer-Ramos has decided to attend N.C. State University for engineering. He says that Northwood has had a big impact on his decisions regarding his future.
“The courses I have taken here [helped make my decision] and what I have found an interest in, like math, science and physics. I think engineering would be a good fit for me,” he said. “When I think about engineering and all that in the future, I don’t have my mind set on it. I might find that I don’t like it, so I have a backup plan to go to natural resources. I have it planned out.”
Although Becquer-Ramos has a backup plan, at the moment he is pretty sure this is where his career will end up.
“[In ten years] I hope to have a prosperous career as an engineer. I see myself tackling issues in engineering like making more efficient machines, maybe designing some,” he said.
Becquer-Ramos is optimistic about his future.
“I see everything, like completing high school and completing college, as a step toward the final goal, and I don’t really know what that is yet. It will be an adventure,” he said.
Becquer-Ramos leaves with some words of advice for underclassmen: setting your priorities.
“Try your best not to succumb to peer pressure and make dumb mistakes. The best way to push that aside is to focus on the right things and create good work habits,” he said. “One will see many doors that were closed before open up right in front of them. There is no better feeling than to know that you are not wasting your time.”
– By Ally DeJong