Happening Now
  • November 27Prism Concert on 11/28/23 at 7:00 p.m.
  • November 27BSU Block Party 11:19 a.m. on 12/1/23
  • November 27Jefferson Jubilee Gift Wrapping Party 3:40 p.m. on 11/30/23
  • November 27Drivers E.D. Class on 11/29/23 at 3:45 p.m.
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

THE MUSE

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

THE MUSE

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 501 S. Sapodilla Ave, WPB, FL 33401

THE MUSE

The Save Our Musicians Foundation partnered with the School of the Arts Foundation to host a fundraising concert for Bak Middle School of the Arts and Dreyfoos Nov. 18 at Tiki 52. Students, teachers, and their families had the opportunity to attend the concert. “I would consider myself one of the biggest country (music) fans at Dreyfoos. I’m actually not even going to meet the man (Luke Bryan) and I am freaking out,” digital media senior Cynthia Mondragon said before the concert.
“Play it Again”
November 19, 2023
Mirroring Mrs. Christie, theatre senior Isabela Aronson practices her choreography to “Does Your Mother Know” from “Mamma Mia!”
Choreographer’s Cut
November 19, 2023

More Than Just a Quarter-Life Crisis

When students are pushed to specialize in a field too early, they are prevented from exploring other interests
As+students+look+into+their+futures%2C+they+reflect+on+their+pasts+and+the+goals+they+once+had.
Daniela Peñafiel
As students look into their futures, they reflect on their pasts and the goals they once had.

I decided about a year ago that I want to be a software engineer working in computer science. 

Three years ago I wanted to be a journalist. Six years ago I wanted to be a doctor. Nine years ago I wanted to be a fairy princess. 

They say high school is a time to experiment, to find what you like and what you want to do in the future; however, we are expected to have a plan long in advance, especially at this school. We choose our majors at 13 and are then surrounded by it every day for the next four years. With our school days revolving around our art area and hours at home spent perfecting our crafts, we are left with little to no time to explore other passions or potential career paths.

Our visions for the future aren’t finalized once we choose an art area or even after we apply to college with a prospective major. Our interests continue evolving throughout our adolescence; however, we have already been confined by the expectations of our majors, so we tend to automatically neglect opportunities to explore different interests and career paths. We tell ourselves that we have already found our niche and should just stick to it, trapping ourselves into a sense of finality regarding our life course. 

For those who diverge from their chosen art area for their career or who are unsure of what to pursue, there is an evident disadvantage. In terms of college applications, academic officers say that by not declaring a major, applicants may appear “generic” — to stand out, one should have an academic and extracurricular history built around a particular major. It can be hard to break away from your high school concentration to try and explore a new major in college because it may harm your application or future career path. It is especially challenging when it feels like everyone around you has already found their calling. 

People have better judgment and awareness of long-term consequences when the brain becomes fully developed at around age 25. Expecting teenagers to plan out their life and stick to that plan is highly unrealistic. Once our brains are done developing, we have already begun life in the real world yet are stuck in a career path we chose as teenagers.

Our high school years are meant to be spent figuring out who we are and what our interests are before finalizing what our futures will look like. When we choose our niches too early in life, we feel bound to that vocation. 

We tend to forget that we are just teenagers. It is completely valid to not have our entire lives planned out just yet. 




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About the Contributor
Priya Gowda, Coverage Staffer
Priya Gowda is a first-year staffer and coverage staffer on The Muse. She enjoys watching bad reality TV on Netflix, listening to music, drinking coffee, fawning over her cat Daisy, and adding books to her TBR list. Priya loves writing and will read anything from memoirs to literary fiction. She is excited to be writing for The Muse and is looking forward to a great first year on the publication.
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