Study Hall from School News Network
Join our rotating cast of journalists, school leaders, teachers and students to explore what's happening in school districts across Kent County, Michigan and beyond. We dive into the issues, challenges and changes related to public education today, and highlight the fabulous teachers and brilliant, creative students who make our schools such exciting places to learn.
Study Hall from School News Network
Grads contemplate life after high school: ‘We will be fine’
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Holly Lawrence, Aluet Deng and Girum Merriman come from three different school districts, but they share an optimism about their futures and the good they can do in the world. All three are members of Kent ISD’s Student Leadership Community, 41 students from across Kent County who met throughout the school year to give input on their educational experience to Kent ISD Superintendent Ron Gorman and other leaders. In this episode of “Study Hall,” we talked with them about the ups and downs of high-school life, their plans for college and careers, and their concerns about what challenges they could face in the future.
For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at SNN@kentisd.org. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!
Live From A Family Fun Center
SPEAKER_01Alright, well, hello everyone, and welcome back to Study Hall from School News Network, your window into the public schools of Kent County, Michigan. I am your host, Charlie Honey, along with our superb sound guy, Max Wickland. And we're here this morning at Craig's Cruisers Family Fun Center in Wyoming, just south of Grand Rapids. What's an education podcast doing at a fun park, you ask? Well, today is the school year-end celebration of Kent ISD's student leadership community, a group of 45 high school students from across Kent County. The SLC is a monthly forum for students to share their perspectives on education with Kent ISD leadership and to take part in leadership development, advocacy, and community service. Their uh feedback helps their superintendents and other educators get a better idea of what students are experiencing in their schools. You can hear in the background uh some Craig Screws' uh activity, and that's part of uh where we are today. Now, three of those student leaders, Aloet Deng, Holly Lawrence, and Gurim Merriman, graciously agreed to take a little time away from the go-karts, arcade games, and pizza to talk with us today. They're all graduating seniors, ready to head out into the big wide world, aka the real world. We are interested in knowing what's on their minds as they break free from their K-12 launching pads. What's next for their futures? College, job, gap year, the good old backpack through Europe? What are their hopes and concerns, their plans and worries, their hopes and dreams? And what are their thoughts about their high school experiences and how well those experiences prepared them for life beyond the school bell? So let's get right into it before the pizza gets cold. Alluet, Holly, and Gerim, welcome and thank you for joining us on Study Hall. Why don't you uh introduce yourselves and uh the schools that you come from, Holly?
SPEAKER_03Uh my name is Holly Lawrence, and I'm a senior from Byron Center High School.
SPEAKER_01All right, Alwet.
SPEAKER_00My name is Alouette Dang, and I'm a senior at Forest Hills Northern High School.
SPEAKER_02Gerim. My name is Geam Merriman, and I'm a senior at Sparta High School.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Um and tell me just a little bit about uh what you were involved with at your at your schools. Uh Guim, what are some of the stuff, things you were into?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I run cross country and track four years. Um I'm in NHS.
SPEAKER_01National Arms Society. Yes, I yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. And then I'm this. Then you're this. Uh student leadership. Yeah, we'll ask about that in a minute.
SPEAKER_01How do you what?
SPEAKER_00Um I've been involved in a lot of different activities throughout high school, a lot of them revolving around like STEM. So I participated in Science Olympiad for the first half of high school. I was in the Van Andel Institute like high school journal club. Um I am president of our school's black student union and our research club. I I've been in athletics, I've run track. Run track. Okay.
SPEAKER_01All right. Um Holly, what have you you've been into at Pirate Center?
SPEAKER_03I've been involved in varsity golf and I'm also an active member of NHS, National Honor Society, along with um, I'm an active member and participate in Young Life.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Yep, yep, Christian organization. Yes, yeah. Yeah, and I understand you're in a podcasting class.
SPEAKER_03I am also in a podcasting class, yes.
Student Voice And Real Influence
SPEAKER_01So you can teach me how to do what I'm doing right now. So, yeah, student leadership community, something that a lot of listeners may not know a lot about. Um tell me what uh you you guys did and and and what you got from that uh personally. Eliwat, you want to start us?
SPEAKER_00Um I think one of the biggest things that we accomplished this year was the state of the student event um that we held at the Meyer Frederick Gardens, and that took a lot of preparation. Um, and we were able to like come up with a lot of things that were pressing um towards like high school students and that from our own perspective and be able to voice that in front of a lot of like community stakeholders with elected officials and um administrative people from school and just like people who have a direct like link to students and should know about what actually we have to deal with and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So that the ki kind of people running the schools kind of know what you're you're experiencing though, not exactly. Uh Guern, what what how is this of benefit to you to be part of the student leadership uh community?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, just to like piggyback off what Eliwet said, like just it's really valuable to have uh direct access to student voices, to people in like the higher ups of the community, you know, like elected officials, superintendents, just so they can, you know, better suit what we need going forward in high school and you know beyond.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Uh and and Holly, uh has this been something that's helped you, would you say, in your growth as a student?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I think this experience in particular has taught me so much just about my own confidence. I never could have imagined two years ago before joining this organization that I would have been on stage talking to 400 people at the student leadership event. And it's really changed the way that I view leadership and how I um how I think I can make an impact on other people, and it's given me a lot of confidence and going forward, like that growth is something that I don't think I would have found anywhere else, and that's why I'm so grateful to have been a part of this.
College Plans And Career Paths
SPEAKER_01Cool, very cool. So as we speak, you are all about to um very soon leave high school and say goodbye to all of that. Um what's next on your personal agendas like for the summer and then for next fall? What would what's what's in your uh what's in your plans, uh Garam?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I plan to attend Western Michigan University uh next fall to be a paper engineer. And that's basically a subcategory of chemical engineering, um, focused on like you know creating like specialized paper products like I don't know, like a box, like like a phone box like from Apple or something with like the special paper or like toilet paper or like paper towel. How interesting. Yeah, yeah, it is interesting. Uh yeah, I was undecided for a while, and uh Western you know like reached out to me and said, like check out our program, like this is a we're like one of the only schools in the country with this. And I checked it out, they got their own paper mill on campus. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01They have their own paper engineering major.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Wow. And you a lot of people just double major um chemical engineering and paper.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So draws you to paper.
SPEAKER_02I don't know, really. I I well the I'm gonna be honest, the one thing I liked is that you can get internships during college and you get paid. Yeah, I think. So uh I like that. And I also like like the sustainability effect, like you know, like finding like ways to use paper uh in replacement of like plastic that's gonna, you know, sit in our ocean for thousands, millions of years. Yeah. So yeah, it just kind of sparked my interest.
SPEAKER_01So to do less harm to the environment, right? Yeah. Holly, what what's uh what's next for you?
SPEAKER_03So next year I'm planning to attend Ohio Northern University. Um long term, I want to be a dentist, so I'm gonna be majoring in uh predental, but I'll be a biology major. And then I'm also really lucky to be committed to play golf for Ohio Northern. So I'm really excited for that.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Do you have a scholarship for the golf?
SPEAKER_03We are D3, so I have academic scholarships, but because of that, there's no specific athletic scholarships that they can give me, but they can help me out in other areas to cover for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And well, let me ask you about dentistry. Why is that something that uh you're drawn to?
SPEAKER_03Um for me, I mean, in my personal life, my grandpa was a dentist, and so that's he's always been my biggest role model. And so I've wanted to follow in his footsteps for a really long time, but also um dentistry and cosmetic dentistry in in particular, it's a way to give people confidence in their smiles, and that's something that you know it means a lot to a lot of people. And if you don't feel confident enough to smile, like it's kind of sad. So I want to be able to give people that.
SPEAKER_01Such a nice reason to be a dentist. And you're gonna be a nice dentist, right? You're not gonna hurt people, aren't you? That's my goal, yeah. Uh Ali Wat, uh what's what's on your agenda?
SPEAKER_00Um next year I plan to go to Emory University um studying anthropology and human biology um in pursuit of a career in medicine. Um my ultimate career end goal is to work in public health leadership or administrative roles. The um one nice thing about Emory is that it's right across from the CDC, and that's something I think in Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, Georgia, yes.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh. So you have hopes maybe of uh what it working at CDC or interning with CDC or just somehow. Yeah. Uh-huh. So in what draws you to public health?
SPEAKER_00Um so my family is from South Sudan, and something that's really important to like my people is community and being able to help those who can't help themselves. So um, since I can remember, my family's been a part of a nonprofit organization called Board Girls Initiative Worldwide. And over the last few years, we've raised money to build a maternity hospital in South Sudan because, like in rural South Sudan, there's just not much health infrastructure. And the stories that I hear from my relatives back home are just so they really just put in perspective how vast of inequal health inequality there is around the world. And being from America and having that privilege to not worry about an ambulance waiting for days to come to me, I think is something I can't take for granted. Um and that experience of like working with my family for that cause has just been really eye-opening. And I just want to like close that gap and make sure that the basic like necessity of health is something that isn't something that's hoarded within like first world countries and the rest of the world is left behind.
Excitement Nerves And Debt
SPEAKER_01Right. Wow, how wonderful. So as you look ahead here, just even to the next few weeks this summer, what's your state of mind? Are you uh how are you feeling about leaving high school, which is somewhat of a sheltered environment and going out into the um I'm feeling pretty optimistic.
SPEAKER_00Um I've been fortunate enough to receive a full ride from Emory. So that's it's really nice knowing that I'll be going into that with I'll be going into like medicine, which is obviously like a degree that typically you have to take on a lot of debt for and being first generation. So I have a lot of pride um for where I've come from and I'm really excited to take on a job this summer in a restaurant. Um hopefully. I already have a math tutoring job.
SPEAKER_01Um a math tutoring job? Yes. Nice.
SPEAKER_00So I'm just really excited to see what opportunities like I can explore in my adult life going forward.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh Garam, what's what's what's your emotional state as you prepare to head out the uh the doors of high school for the last time?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm I'm excited. I'm I'm ready to you know start something new, a new chapter in my life. A little nervous, but I think I'm ready for the change though.
SPEAKER_01What makes you a little nervous maybe?
SPEAKER_02Well, it's just gonna be I mean, it's gonna be a big difference. I mean, in you know, I'm not gonna see a lot of my friends from high school, I'm not gonna, you know, see my family nearly as much. Also, like just like the workload difference in college, that's gonna be a big difference because I mean you can kind of escape by high school, but college, you know, you gotta you gotta lock down and get ready to you know rather do the hardest work of your life.
SPEAKER_01Can't mess around. Yeah, yeah. Uh Holly, how are you feeling about uh this next phase and leaving high school behind?
SPEAKER_03I feel like these past few weeks have just been really bittersweet. Um I've just been trying to soak in every last moment that I have with my friends at high school and the memories that we have at Byron Center, you know. But I'm also so excited for what is to come. I've been committed to the school for almost over a year now. So it's I've been anticipating this for 365 days and it's almost here, and it's I'm so excited to meet new people and to be on a new golf team and to actually start stepping toward my career goals and everything. So it's bittersweet to be leaving home. Never left home, never lived anywhere else. But I'm just so excited for what the future holds.
SPEAKER_01Nice. Um you mentioned that you have a full ride that helps a lot. Garam and Holly, are you are you dealing with any concerns about college debt or is that also taken care of for you, uh Holly?
SPEAKER_03My parents are gonna be helping me a lot, but also being a dentist, like paying for dental school is something that I think about a lot. And it I'm gonna be honest, it does stress me out sometimes, but I know that like if I put in the work and I get a good job over the summers that I'm home and I I know I can do it, and people wouldn't be dentists if they couldn't pay off the debt to get there. So I just keep reminding myself that. So I'm definitely worried about it, but I know that it's gonna work out in the future.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, I'm still waiting on uh some scholarship news, but right now I'm not super concerned. I mean, I I'm sure my parents are willing to help a little bit. I'll hopefully, you know, get some internships over the summers that I'm in college. Um I think I'll be fine, but yeah, it's obviously it's a little scary, but I yeah, I'm not entirely worried.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, speaking of a little scary, there are some scary things happening in the world, as you're well aware of. Um, you know, there's a lot of conflict going on, there's wars, the climate is changing in some weird ways. Oh, AI seems to be taking over the planet. Uh will Taylor Swift run out of songs? I mean, there's all kinds of things, but um are there things that are ha out happening out in the world that you're concerned about or or that you're give you some anxiety about as you go into that uh next kind of environment?
SPEAKER_00Um I would say something that I sort of just like lives in the back of my mind is of course like AI and how that like is affecting our like job market. I feel like every day we're learning about a new innovation of like like I just read an art, like I just listened to a podcast about AI's ability to like find bugs in um computer software and like what could that could mean for like cybersecurity and that just always like there's just like an air of anxiety that always lives with a new AI innovation that comes. Like obviously it's really cool that we have this technology that's come so far from even when I was born, and I can't even imagine like before then. But um, so yeah, there's definitely always that. I don't it kind of makes the future feel a little uncertain, but I'm sure previous generations have felt the same way about things, other wars, other like things that that like made their like daily lives a little uncertain. So I know that we'll be able to move forward and we will be fine.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah, yeah. Certainly, certainly true. People got through the Great Depression somehow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, Holly, anything you seem pretty focused. Is there anything else on your mind as you head out there that you have some concerns about?
SPEAKER_03Uh kind of like Aloet said, I do think about the technological advancements a lot, but I also think about the benefit that that brings. I know, for example, in the dentist's office that I shadow at, there's this new laser technology. Um in the past, they've only been able to use it on um bone tissue, but now it's for both bone tissue and for gum tissue, and it's like it's costing so much less for the dentist to produce, and it's also something that, like, for example, I got two fillings and I wasn't numb. Like, I felt nothing. And it's just like it's incredible that it's come this far. But I mean, there is always that thought in the back of my head, like, what else, if they can do this, what else can they do that might not be something that's beneficial?
High School High Points
SPEAKER_01Wow. That's life-changing. Yeah. Filling with no with no Novokane, wonderful. Um, so let's talk about your high school experience for a minute. Basic question on a scale of one to ten, how much did you like it? Like ten being awesome and one being, you know, like just above zero. I'd give it an eight. Give it an eight? Nice.
SPEAKER_00I'd give my high school experience like a six and a half, maybe a seven.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00I would say eight or nine.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay. Uh so we're gonna open this up. What was the best thing about it for you? Uh the thing that thing or things you enjoyed most, uh, high points for you, uh, anything jump out at you?
SPEAKER_03For me in particular, I think in my experience, I wanted to make the most out of my high school just as a social aspect. So I feel like it was really beneficial for me, like even when I was uncomfortable. For example, I I mentioned I was a part of Young Life. Yeah, I didn't know anyone that went to Young Life my freshman year. And so, sophomore year, I'm like, you know what? I know I don't know anyone, but I'm gonna go and get involved. And just doing that and stepping outside of my comfort zone, it's made high school so much better, and I would recommend that to anyone. And Young Life now is such a big part of my life, and I can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't do that. So, like high school by itself, it was good. My education's good. I feel confident with my the preparation that I have, but as a social aspect, I do think that it takes some pushing of yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and really take advantage of the opportunities that there are for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. Garam, anything jumped to mind for you, like what you enjoyed the most about your uh eight-level high school experience?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I think um one thing that really helped me was uh getting involved in like uh in extracurriculars. So like for me it was cross-country and track. And I just found some of my best friends there, and just like that strong sense of like like community and like brotherhood with those guys. I mean, just knowing that like you got you got friends here and like you're wanted here, that I mean it's life-changing. Are you gonna keep running? Uh as you can. I'm not, no. I'm I'm done. Okay. I'm done. I I love running, but yeah, uh it's hard. Okay, okay. Maybe just for fun, not for not competitively a hobby jogger.
SPEAKER_01Uh Aloed, you were your rating was a little bit lower, um, but what did you enjoy about it? Uh what it was good for you.
SPEAKER_00I would say definitely similar to Holly. I feel like um the connections and friendships I was able to make throughout high school and like whatever I definitely made an effort to like be as involved as I possibly could. So I made a lot of friendships across like different social circles, and I'm really grateful for that because I feel like it has made me that's just I'm a very outgoing person, so I feel like it's made me more equipped to like handle like the outside world and interact with all different kinds of people and like not really be afraid to like be the only person who's interested in something. Like I feel like I have been able to relate to a lot of different people and find commonality in our differences if we have different interests, whatever, um, or different backgrounds. Um, so I think that's been a very valuable part of my high school experience.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm glad you said that. Like in terms of preparing you for what you're gonna do next, going out into the into the workplace, into the world in college, what do you feel like Hollywood's the most helpful thing for you about high school in getting you ready for this next stage of your life?
SPEAKER_03Um one thing that sticks out to me when I think about this is AP classes. I've taken four, which is I think an average amount. I think it pushed me, but I was also, you know, still it was a manageable workload. So I think AP classes really help because going to college, not having the experience of having to study and having to work really hard for your grades, I think it would be really hard for me. But I've built study tactics, I've built different routines to help me stay focused, and I think that's really helped prepare me a lot. Um along with, as I stated before, this group and this um opportunity to share my voice and um meet new people that I never would have met and hear different perspectives, that's a big thing too.
SPEAKER_01Garam, you talked about the kind of the brotherhood of cross country and uh the solidarity of that. Is that something you think is gonna be beneficial to you going forward, like having had that experience, knowing that you can enter into a a group of people like that and and form a common interest uh in life?
SPEAKER_02Definitely, yeah. think that like having that experience at like a developmental stage like in high school like that will allow me and anyone else to like you know going into you know like a workplace or college or anywhere like a willingness to like go and find your community within there and like maybe you know form your own community like and just having that connection can like I mean kind of a confidence that you can be part of making that happen right yes.
SPEAKER_01Does anybody want to talk about like some of the downsides of high school you know there's been a lot written about like social media and anxiety and depression and comparing yourself to you know all kinds of things that students experience as negative. Is anything jump out at you that m was kind of difficult for you as part of high school?
SPEAKER_03I would say a lot of people don't realize how big the workload is for high school students. Our day is eight hours long and then we come home we have extracurriculars because everyone tells us to get involved because it is a good thing but then you have homework on top of that like work doesn't stop when you leave and that's I think the hardest part about it is you're at school all day and you're switching classes all the time so it's hard to just get one task done and that's you know that has probably changed a lot since our even our parents were in high school and since maybe even more recent graduating classes have been in high school and I think that's something that a lot of people need to realize that like we don't have much time but we're still expected to do the same amount of stuff as everyone else.
SPEAKER_01And I think that's probably especially true for higher achieving students like you because you take that stuff really seriously right.
Faith Balance And Giving Back
SPEAKER_00I feel like this is like a more personal experience but I think part of my experience of like growing up in Forest Hills um has been one of like experiencing a little bit of like feeling kind of othered and on the outskirts of um my community in a way almost like I am first generation American and um I think that's definitely like influenced how I see the world and what I want to pursue in certain terms of like changing and like making space for people who look like me because I've made it um I've worked really hard throughout high school and I've challenged myself a lot. So I took a lot of AP classes and just something that I noticed over and over again is that like I'd often be the only black girl in all of my classes and you would think that it wouldn't have an effect on you but it's just a little eye-opening to uh experience like how easily it is for easy it is for others to like it it's like acknowledging that difference and not necessarily in a like uplifting way. So I think as like I move towards college um that's just something I'm a little more conscientious about and it definitely like makes me more cognizant of like the spaces I'm in and making sure that like people aren't feeling like othered for any particular reason.
SPEAKER_01100% appreciate that you're pretty focused career wise in the larger sense what is it that you is most important to you in terms of your life going forward both what you get out of life and what you give back to life. What what's your thought on that Holly?
SPEAKER_03So for me I just so much more than dentistry like God is such a huge part of my life and I just want to live like him and I want to if I have a family someday just lead a faithful life so that my kids can lead a faithful life and that's ultimately what I'm on this earth for and that's what I try to live for every day.
SPEAKER_00Beautiful um I think for me I really want to be able to like maintain a balance in my life um I I obviously throughout high school like I've worked really hard and it's been very demanding but I think I always want to be able to like maintain joy outside of just like my ability to produce and work really hard. So I really want to make sure that going forward especially like in my training to become a doctor it's obviously going to require a lot of long hours that I'm still having fun with my friends and I'm still seeing the world and I'm still out in my community um being present and um actually having an meaningful impact in that like I don't get forgotten because I'm studying in the library for like hours on end.
SPEAKER_02So yeah um I'd agree with a lot of what Holly said as well you know just building a faith centered life a God centered life.
Final Thanks And Farewell
SPEAKER_01That's pretty important too that's a foundational value for you is Christian faith? Yes yes are you involved with um a church? Yeah yeah um I'm a Catholic I got a um our Lady of Consolation in Rockford know what no well okay all right so you whatever you do with the the paper world is going to be um the faith uh life is gonna be very important to you yeah I am so glad that you guys made time I want to let you get to uh whatever it is you want to get to out there um and uh so thank you for talking to me Ali what Holly and Garam and thanks to our readers for tuning in once again and our listeners to Study Hall. Look forward to joining you on our next episode. Until then be well stay safe and keep your pencils nice and sharp. Go have fun guys. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you
