As the school year comes to a close, it’s a common tradition for senior authors for
The Forecast to write a piece reflecting on their high school careers and reflect on it. I,
however, will be breaking this tradition. I’m not saying I have not had a high school career
worth talking about; I will never forget all the fun memories working on the Morning Show or
my insanely stacked class lineups. I’m also not saying my high school career isn’t worth
reflecting on, as looking back, there was a lot I could have, and should have done
differently.

But for my final article for The Forecast, I’d like to take a different approach on a
“retrospective.” And by different, I mean completely opposite. Here I’d like to “reflect” on
where I see myself in the future, or at least where I’d like to see myself in the future.
Specifically for college. When I look back at this (if I remember to) in 5-10 years, hopefully
I’ll be satisfied with my life progress.

First off, when high school is over and I finally make that walk across the stage every senior looks forward to, I’m going to be taking a break from anything vigorous the entire summer. No mentally taxing activities. No stressful engagements. No homework. I’ll still be working a job and socializing, but I would like to rest my mind as much as possible to prepare for the transition for college, which as I stand now, I’m not the most ecstatic about.

I plan on attending a college for communications and media studies. Fortunately for me, I have plenty of prior experience thanks to my decision to subject myself to the mental warfare known as: “Editing the Morning Announcements.” So, with this experience, I sure I won’t struggle on that aspect. I’m sure I’ll understand how to operate any camera thrown
at me, and I’m sure I can get used to a new editing software.

The biggest things I’m worried about are math, and the socialization of college. If you know me personally, you’ll know I’m not the most social person out there. If I must, it can be done, but I won’t go out of my way to talk to someone new or put myself out there. So, I’m hoping the programs I go into allows me to connect with new people early set me for the rest of college. Worst comes to worst, I will have to put myself out there, which
won’t be the worst thing ever. New year new me.

Now the much larger issue; math. Luckily, I’m doing an English major, so I won’t be
seeing much math. But it’s that “much math” that I’m not looking forward to. Throughout
High School math was never my strong suit. In elementary and middle school, I was really
good at it, but once they started adding letters and symbols my brain fries. But if I can overcome those two issues, I’m sure my college experience will be fun. I don’t plan on going to any crazy parties or anything like that, but I’m going with a friend who will be doing that, so I might get dragged to one here and there, which honestly, I hope happens. It will force me to socialize and get better with large crowds.

Another thing I’d like to do in college is continue writing for a newspaper. The
college I’m attending has an amazing student-run newspaper, one of the best in the
country in fact, so I hope my contributions will be satisfactory enough for the thousands
reading every week.

Once I get through college, I hope to be able to travel the world as a documentary
filmmaker. I’ve always wanted to travel, and this gives me the perfect excuse to do so, as
well as my interest in camerawork and cinematography.

I was originally set on a film major, however I’ve recently been swayed by the

incredible storytelling documentaries’ can have. And to be honest, a lot of documentaries, at least I’ve seen at school, are super boring. I hope to throw my hat into the ring and make at least one high schooler’s class a little less boring.

And with that, that’s pretty much everything I wanted to say. As said before, my highschool career wasn’t perfect, far from it. But it is more  important in most scenarios to look forward, your future is what matters and the mistakes you’ve made in the past can’t be
changed.

Thank you to everyone at Huntingtown High School’s journalism program for making high school much, much more barrable than it should have been for me.
Signing off
Zac Mileo