Rams visit colleges to decide after-high school plans

Students examine locations for community and academic fit.

Story by Hayden Rogers, Staff Writer|June 26, 2023

Pierce College offers students an opportunity to further their education while being close to home.

As the 2022-23 school year comes to a quick end, students all over campus are going on college visits to make the decision of which college to go to after their senior year. Students have been going to places from as close as Pierce College to all the way to Florida State University.

Jaevince Jesus, a sophomore here at RHS, said he makes goals, and looks at different colleges and technical colleges. Jesus has visited about three with his mother. They talked with counselors at the colleges and started planning on how many classes he needs to take and also the cost of college. Jesus also thinks about the difference between technical college, community college and university.

He is also planning on doing running start with pierce college during his junior year and senior year. Jesus is also preparing himself to join the military once he is finished with his associate degree and high school. He will be a junior and is about to join college this summer 2023.

A senior Kayla Katsle stated that her parents took her to visit different colleges around Washington, she had to make appointments that sometimes was a hassle. Katsle wrote letters for scholarships to other colleges in different states. Katsle got a scholarship to Arizona State University, and she is going to be there in about a week or two after she graduates. She stated that sometimes it was stressful trying to see what career path she wanted to take.

While visiting colleges, she made note of how dorms looked, expenses she might have, how she can manage her time with college, work and as well as being away from her family. Katsle has been in the Puyallup school district since kindergarten. Her mom works for one of the hotels as well as the school, and her dad is a businessman.

Lastly, senior Kenya Johnson said that she is going to take a year off from school just work and save for college because it is so expensive. One is just joining the military, but majority of the seniors are very excited to be graduating and moving onto their next chapter in their adult lives.