Leading up to graduation, the Vail Daily has profiled various seniors. In the office, we don’t know many of the seniors, other than our stellar Winter 2014 Intern Ethan Cotton, of course. Yet, we still shuffle through the paper and find ourselves stopping on the senior section, and one question in particular.
The Daily asks, “What will you be doing in 10 years?’
Think about how you would have answered this question at high school graduation. What did you want to be doing 10 years after leaving the comforts of home? Bright-eyed and ready to take the diploma, here is what some of the seniors had to say:
In 10 years you will be…
“Teaching elementary school somewhere in the country.”
“In 10 years I will be the most successful me possible.”
“Pursuing a career that involves helping others and, of course, being as happy as I can be.”
“Living somewhere exotic, doing what I love.”
“A world-renowned production designer working with Tim Burton and a documentarian inspiring the world through film.”
“Working for a humanitarian program or in politics focused on international affairs and bettering the lives of those in third world countries.”
“Working at a major tech company and he;ping technology advance with new product developments.”
And perhaps the best answer: “Celebrating the 10 year anniversary of this question! That is a fancy way of telling you that I have no clue what’s coming up for me in the next decade, but I am looking forward to it.”
At the Symposium, like schools, our business is in education. We deal with speakers who have changed or invented new industries, or are able to offer strong enough commentary to be heard by the masses. We deal with succesful people – professional athletes, CEOs, tenured politicans. We deal with the kind of people who make you realize that you can do what you want to do, and the world can benefit from it.
So to the graduates, we say this: go off, continue your education in school or otherwise, pursue your dreams, be who you want to be, change the world, live happily and always remember that your goals for 10 years from now stemmed from the education and support you received in the Valley up to this point. Best of luck, and we hope to bring some of you in to speak 10 years from now.
