Senior Ella Rogers has spent her first three high school years on advanced tracks that have been keeping her busy every day after school. Now, going into her senior year, Rogers is ready to take a step away from the stress and have a break before the next phase of her life.
“I’ve just always taken really advanced coursework, and I enjoy working hard in school because I feel like I’m making the most of educational opportunities,” Rogers said. “At the end of the day, I decided to graduate early because I’ll have some time to experience different parts of the world other than school and busywork.”
Rogers switched from St. Teresa’s Academy to East to be able to graduate after the fall semester. Despite being a new senior, Rogers knows her way through the blue-locker-lined halls since she had gone to East for her freshman year. She switched to STA halfway through her sophomore year because they were better equipped to handle in-person learning during COVID-19.
When she moved to STA, Rogers was on a higher track that they didn’t fully offer in their curriculum, so she was always put in classes with upperclassmen. Going into her senior year, her only options were taking online Calculus 2 and Spanish 6, so when asking if she could take a gap year, she was told STA is a “four-year institution.”
After she graduates, Rogers plans to try and make some money and relax before starting college in the fall of 2023 with the rest of her class. Rogers is looking for a paid internship to do during that time to make money and gain job experience. If that doesn’t pan out, she has a babysitting family that she could help out with more or she will return to Kansas City Country Club where she worked as a lifeguard this past summer.
She’s also interested in using the time to travel as she’s typically too busy. She’d like to spend an extended time with her grandparents in St. Louis, stay with some of her friends at KU to get a feel for the campus and go on a senior year mother-daughter trip.
While missing out on her final semester of high school was a con to Rogers’ plan, she ultimately made her decision because she realized she could get the perks of school without the stress.
“The extracurriculars and things don’t necessarily go away,” Rogers said. “But now I’m able to do those things without having to worry about school.”
Rogers still plans on going to games and dances and enjoying her “second semester,” although she’ll miss not seeing her friends everyday in class.
“If nothing else, I just have some time to regroup and relax before starting college,” Rogers said.
When senior Cole Murray finds himself stressed, he steps away from his work and heads to the kitchen to make anything from lemon pound cake to raspberry cheesecake.
“I kind of use it as therapy,” Murray said. “It’s a nice way to turn off your mind and just do something.”
At the end of last summer, Murray’s mom went on a trip to New York to visit an old friend who just happens to own a bakery called Shandaken Bake. When they got to talking about Murray’s interest in baking, the friend offered for Murray to come up to New York for a gap year to work at his bakery and learn commercial baking under him.
As soon as he got the offer, Murray decided that he was going to take a gap year in the fall of 2023 and spend his time in upstate New York baking blueberry tarts and buttermilk biscuits for the people of Catskills.
When planning the logistics of his apprenticeship, Murray decided graduating early would give him more time to save up for New York working as a full-time manager at Fairway Creamery — plus the added bonus of getting to stay in bed a little longer on cold winter mornings.
“I had been thinking about [graduating early] since freshman year, so it’s always just kind of been on my mind,” Murray said.
When the opportunity to actually do it arose, Murray was a student at Bishop Miege where their graduation requirements of completing theology class keep students from graduating early. Murray didn’t care where he went to school, he just wanted to get started on his post-high-school plans, so he transferred to SMSD.
To graduate early, he had to make sure he met all of the requirements of his new school district. His schedule starts with commercial baking at the CAA in the morning, then forensic science, government, business management plus online English and math.
After his gap year, Murray plans to go to JCCC for his pre-rec classes, then go to a university once he decides on a major. While he doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do after college, he feels at ease knowing he always has a backup.
“If stuff doesn’t work out at school, I can fall back and be a baker,” Murray said.