MHS students, staff follow passions when choosing careers

Grace Ai | The Chronicle

As students at Mason High School (MHS) prepare for the next chapter of their lives, many end up stuck at the crossroads when it comes to college majors and future careers. For some, they chose their paths based on passion.

Senior Kieran Niska, currently in the MHS’s Honors Symphony Orchestra, plans on pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Violin performance. He has auditioned for the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music and many other music schools. 

“I want to go into an orchestra like the New York Philharmonic or Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,” Niska said. “But what would be really cool is if I could eventually tour as a soloist.”

He said his violin teacher, a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was an inspiration to his career choice, alongside a few other reasons that originated in his childhood. 

“I couldn’t communicate very well [as a child], but I felt like through music; it’s another medium that really expresses my emotions,” Niska said. 

Another figure that contributed to his choice was violinist Joshua Bell. After attending a concert performed by him and getting his violin case signed by Bell, Niska decided to be a musician like him, and inspire others like him. 

“Before [the concert], I was only moderately interested [in music], and it felt more like a hobby than an actual passion,” Niska said. “But that’s really what sort of sparked my interest in music.”

For Niska, his parents are not necessarily opposed to his future plans, but are  concerned about it. Due to the competitiveness in the music industry, becoming successful can be very challenging.

 “For one seat in a major orchestra, there’s 500 applicants on average,” Niska said. “[I’d be] competing against 499 other musicians who are presumably of the same caliber or possibly even higher than myself. I think that’s what has my parents worried.”

Much like Niska, Junior Selma Khalil also chose a path in the humanities field, and is currently deciding between a major in English or Journalism. In addition, she is also considering going into law after getting a degree in one of those areas.

“With law, you’re bringing justice to somebody that was wronged, and I think that is a part of law that is very motivating,” Khalil said.

Since Khalil was in elementary school, she had always been interested in the language arts classes at her school, enjoying the process of analyzing current and historical events in her essays. Having known her interests beforehand, Khalil’s parents had no issue with her potential career choice.

“[My parents’] philosophy is that as long as you’re happy and [your career] is something you’re passionate about [while being stable], then it’s completely fine,” Khalil said.

High school students are not the sole victims of career indecision, however. Spanish I and III teacher Emma Witowski said that while she realized that she wanted to teach Spanish later in her college years, her passion for the language had been there for much longer. During the summer after her eighth grade year, Witowski participated in an exchange program in which she stayed with a Guatemalan family after hosting the family’s daughter in America months before. 

“So really, it was a desire to be able to communicate with more people, other than just [the] people around me in the United States,” Witowski said. “I learned so much about the culture and the history. But I felt like my knowledge was limited because I couldn’t speak Spanish super well. And so I just decided, even before I went, [that] I would become fluent in this language.”

However, Spanish was not Witowski’s main career choice at first. While she minored in Spanish, her major was in Broadcast Journalism during her freshman year of college at Ohio University (OU), in the Scripps School of Journalism.

“I was super excited [after getting accepted], but once I started taking the classes, honestly, there were a lot of people being very snobby, and [there was] a lot of elitism,” Witowski said. “That and I had a professor who would constantly start every class by telling us that journalism was a dying industry, and then we were all going to be replaced by computers.

These conditions were what drove Witowski to lose interest in her major, turning to a subject she had been passionate about throughout her adolescence. 

“I was like, ‘okay, I hate all my journalism classes, but I love all of my Spanish classes’,” Witowski said. “It’s something that I’ve always been passionate about. I love learning languages. Prior to applying to OU as a journalism major, I had been thinking about becoming a language arts teacher. And then I [thought], ‘Wait, but I love Spanish, and I wanted to be a teacher. Perfect. I’ll just be a Spanish teacher.’”

Similar to Khalil’s parents, Witowski’s parents were accepting of what they choose to do in life, as long as their child was happy and passionate about their career. 

“My mom always told me, ‘Whatever you do, make sure that you enjoy it and then it makes you happy, because that’s what you’re going to be doing every day for the rest of your life’,” Witowski said.

To those students still unsure of what to do in life, Khalil said her outlook is to stay open-minded.

“Some general advice I would have is don’t limit yourself just to one career, because you can’t guarantee that in five years that’s what you’re going to end up wanting to do,” Khalil said. “You should try or consider other options, and don’t be disappointed in yourself if you change your mind.”