Senior year is stressful. I hear it goes by quickly, which I suppose is a relief. It also makes it all the more terrifying.

This is it. We all have a choice to make, and little time to do it. Some people have already made it. Some have had this figured out since they were little. But here is a new concept to think about: we don’t have to have it figured out right now.

There are adults, even a few in this school, who didn’t. They started out as one thing before realizing they wanted to be a teacher. 

English teacher James Webb did not start out as such, though his career did still involve literature and writing. 

“I worked as a writer and copy-editor. I switched because I had always thought about teaching on some level, and one of my assignments for a newspaper required me to visit a lot of schools and interview students and teachers. That interaction sparked my desire to pursue teaching. I realized that writing was something I could still do on my own time and on my own terms, while doing a job that I found more satisfying and meaningful,” says Webb. 

He, like many others, realized that career paths are not set in stone. Though for Webb, teaching is it. 

“I have not seriously contemplated doing anything else professionally. I have other interests, hobbies, or jobs that I enjoy doing, but the teaching schedule generally allows me to pursue those on my own time during the summer or over breaks.”