The seniors of Arvada have been counting down the days until graduation! What are they gonna do next? Where are they gonna go? A couple of seniors talk about what their plans are and offer advice for future seniors.

“I am going to a trade school for HVAC, heating, ventilation, and cleaning,” said senior Josh Mas.

However, there are plenty of other options besides trade schools. According to Quentin Terry, he plans on going to college for teaching. 

Although these seniors are graduating and going to the next chapter of their lives, they give some direction for remaining classes. Mas recommended that future seniors apply to as many colleges as they can.

Applying for college is great experience and there’s even the possibility of getting college credit in high school due to the many Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered at the school. These classes allow you to get college credits that can prepare students for college classes.

“It’s rigorous work. For AP biology there is a lot to cover. Also assigning a fair amount of homework because for everything they need to know for the exam we can’t do it all in class. There’s too much,” said AP Biology teacher Rick Durant.

Despite the amount of work that needs to be done, Durant still makes time to help students study for the AP exams and get homework done.

“We have Saturday study sessions from 8:00 to 11:00 for 3 hours. We go over a lot of units from our last semester,” Durant said.

Durant is lending a hand for all those who could benefit from the support. He even recommended that students should try the class and challenge themselves.

“If you think you wanna go to college my philosophy has always been to take the class, even if you haven’t taken an advanced or AP class, even if you don’t take the exam or get a qualifying score that gets you the college credit, it can help you be prepared for college,” said Durant. “One of my former students that didn’t take the test said ‘I’m really glad I had your class cause I was ready for college’.” 

The seniors of Arvada are ready for life after high school, whether that means going to a trade school or attending college. The AP classes have been able to prepare some for future courses, giving them credit or just a sense of what college will be like. With or without the AP courses or a college education, the class of 2018 is ready.