Being a part of Wylie High School means picking an endorsement. This is a path with classes to help you experience 4 years of classes in whatever career you choose. Wylie gives countless options; from arts and humanities to business and industry, everybody has the chance to do something they love. With this requirement of choosing a course comes the question–do these endorsements actually help students feel prepared for life after high school?

It’s important to understand why students pick the endorsements they do. Is it just for fun, or in hopes of seriously pursuing that career beyond high school.

“I thought playing an instrument would be cool, so in middle school I chose the bass,” said Jacob Gomez (11). This led Gomez to choose the endorsement arts and humanities, with his 4 year class being orchestra.

Gomez loves orchestra, however, he does not plan to pursue it as a career beyond graduation.
“I would love to just play outside after high school, just like on my own, just for fun.”

Even with wanting to do other things after high school, being in an endorsement still has helped Gomez with real life skills and has helped him prepare for big moments in the future.

“For the concerts, it’s hard to play… because you’re playing in front of people. And I feel like once you get up there, the nerves start to hit and I think it helps with that for sure,” said Gomez.

In contrast to Gomez, there’s Madeline Aldrich, who plans to pursue a career in dance after high school.

The choice of what path to take can be intimidating for some, but for others, like Madeline, it came easy. “I originally chose dance for my endorsement, because that’s what I enjoyed leading up to high school,” said Aldrich. “I definitely plan to pursue dance in my life after high school, especially in college.”

There are many things that come from an endorsement that will stick with you no matter what. “The opportunities and like, learning how to speak and interact with the people you’re in it with, and learning why different people chose it as well is a huge inspiration that helps you stay motivated,” said Aldrich.

Whether or not you choose to pursue your endorsement after graduating, there are things you can learn and use when you find a place that you do thrive in. You learn how to stick with something, how to communicate to a specific group of people, and other life skills like performing or presenting.