SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Investigating College Life

After high school, it feels like a whole new life you have to look forward to. New horizons to explore, a new you to find. For Senior Karlee Tosse, it’s going to be a new school in a whole new state. “I was sent a link by a friend and it matches you to colleges that fit your criteria,” Tosse says, “it matched me to NAU (Northern Arizona University).” Tosse explains how she knew this was the school for her, “They have a great criminology program and the town is exactly what I was looking for.” 

After finding the perfect school, then comes the application process, which Karlee says was cake. “They gave me an early application with priority enrollment, I filled out the application in early September.” she says. Later that month, on a Friday while working at a pizza place, Karlee got the big news through a call from her mom. She notes that, “Finding out over the phone with my mom didn’t feel right, but I went to the back alley and ended up crying because I didn’t think the first college I applied to would accept me.” 

Her main goal is to do good in her community by becoming a detective or FBI agent. “I want to make the communities better places to be and I feel like becoming part of law enforcement will give me that opportunity.” She wants to bring communities together and “do the most good that I possibly can with what I am given.” With her major picked and bags (almost) packed, she’s ready for the next chapter of her life, “I’m looking forward to starting my own life and my own path that isn’t dictated by anyone but myself.” 

But with all of this excitement, comes concern. 

“I think COVID will affect my education more than my experience.” The concern with the COVID-19 pandemic is fading out, but still very much affects students. Will school still have to function the way it did during the first outbreaks? Will we have to pay thousands just to sit in a dorm room looking at a screen? Karlee expresses her concern through an experience, “One of my friends (who is already in college) is taking next year off because she doesn’t want to pay for not learning anything, like she is now.” 

For the class of 2021, the entirety of our senior year has prepared us for the worst. We fear that whatever we do can and will be taken away from us because of the severity of pandemic. It’s a lot harder making life decisions now, we’ve had to give up so much of what we looked forward to the most. Karlee states the things she’ll miss the most from being a student at Frederick High:

“I’m going to miss the people that I see walking down the halls, cheering at pep rallies, the way the band cheers up the crowd even when we’re losing,” she says, “but most of all the way the whole school would come together for one thing even if it’s not what we’re interested in ourselves, such as when the theater department put on Newsies and won state. We were all so happy, and so proud of them for what they did.” 

Karlee’s main goal for everyone is togetherness, in whatever community she ends up in and in our own school in the coming years. During her studies at Northern Arizona University and her career afterward, we know she’ll be a trusted and amazing part of any community she lands.