“Where do you see yourself in four years? How about 10? What do you do for a living?”

If you are a senior, all will ask these questions. If you are anyone else, be prepared for a witty, rhetorical response. People assume that since we are leaving high school we know our whole life plan.

I never know how to respond. If I say, “I don’t know.” I hear “Well, say something…what is your ideal situation?” — as if that could help me answer. I don’t know where I am going to go to college. Heck, I don’t even know where I’m going tomorrow. The future depends on so much and my only plan is to go wherever I feel I can flourish or be happy.

Thinking of your “ideal situation” takes away the magic. I don’t want to think about the future because then it becomes real.

And if it is going to become real, I need to start off small. Think of what college I will attend, then – in a year or two when I have to pick a major — what to study, then hopefully through that experience, I will find my future.

But when you’re a high school senior, all of that seems like a lifetime from now. Until then I want to be a Shalhevet student, which is something I will have to give up once handed a diploma.

If you think about it, just the decision to attend Shalhevet changed the course of your life. Which makes me think that my (and your) instincts are pretty good already. How’s that for an answer?