Life after high school: Where will you be a few years after graduation? Here's a sneak peek at the lives of three people making it in the "real world." - Special Feature: Flash Forward

Career World, April, 2002 by Melissa M. Ezarik

Close your eyes and imagine your future. You're a few years past high school graduation, and you're still figuring out your place in the world. What is your daily life like? What kinds of demands are you juggling? How do you spend your free time? What choices are you making to help your dreams come true?

Sometimes it's easier to picture what you eventually want out of your life--career success, a family, a nice house and car--than it is to imagine what it will be like to work toward those goals.

Each person's personal path to success and happiness is unique. The lessons learned along the way, however, are often similar. Meet Joshua, Glenn, and Tara as they share their choices and goals--as well as some nuggets of wisdom they've learned from experience.

Saving Lives

Joshua Katz knew his calling in life at age 7. While spending the summer with his grandparents at their house on a lake, he witnessed a girl beginning to struggle in the water. "My grandfather quickly swam out, kept her head above water, and brought her out of the lake," Joshua, now 20, remembers. "Ever since then, I've desired to...be able to help and provide life-saving assistance in an emergency."

His father's volunteer work as a firefighter and an emergency medical service (EMS) worker also exposed him to the field. "I knew that the day turned 16 I would become a junior member-of-the fire department, and at 171 would be a member," Joshua says. He did just that. Because most of his responses turned out to be EMS calls, his interests began to swing in that direction.

After high school, Joshua went to college briefly, but soon left to work as an emergency medical technician (EMT). He currently lives with his parents in Lido Beach, New York, while working and attending paramedic school. "My schedule is erratic. Sometimes I sleep during the day, sometimes I sleep at night, sometimes I don't sleep. I sometimes even have trouble keeping track of where I'm going!" he says. The ambulance service he works for operates throughout his area of Long Island and the five boroughs of New York City. He explains, "I am stationed at a different place each day."

At home, Joshua contributes to groceries and other household expenses. Meanwhile, he sets aside about a quarter of each paycheck for savings and hopes to move upstate and return to college next school year.

A change in course? Not really. "I love health care, but my job is hard, stressful, and low-paying," he says. "I believe I might be happier pursuing another career route while continuing to volunteer in EMS." He is considering teaching philosophy or math, or going into psychology or law.

Joshua hopes to advance in the emergency care field, as well, possibly by becoming an EMS instructor. "Whatever I do, I will stay in EMS on at least a volunteer basis," he says.

Joshua's words of wisdom on choosing work before college: "Just make sure you realize that this is a much harder route than going directly to college, in the short run and in the long run....Don't go straight to work instead of school thinking it's easier!"

Joining a Family Business

During middle and high school, Glenn Hilliard, 20, sometimes helped his father out with his roofing business. Now he works with his dad full time.

"It's kind of laid back," Glenn says of their work schedule, which is typically 8 a.m. to 4p.m. Jobs last between a couple of days and a few weeks, and Glenn says he likes being in different places, "instead of the same site, day in and day out." And as long as the weather cooperates, he says, "It's great to be outside and not stuck in an office."

Although the occasional large job requires a crew, it's usually just Glenn and his father working side by side. "Oh sure, we get on each other's nerves," he says, "but for the most part, we're good together." On weekends, they'll often travel to Vermont, where his dad owns a house that he purchased as a "fixer-upper" to work on.

Glenn is generally happy with his career choice for now, but there are some negatives. "It's very monotonous," Glenn says. "There isn't enough thinking. Once you know what you're doing, you go to different places but are still doing the same thing."

That's why he likes his second job, working at a construction company a little closer to home during the winter when roofing work slows. The job includes various tasks related to demolishing and rebuilding homes. Glenn hopes to expand his knowledge by going back to school to learn how to read blueprints, so he can open his own home-construction business someday.

For now, he's got to travel to get to work, since his father lives in the Bronx, New York, and Glenn is in New Milford, Connecticut. "It's 70 miles to get there and 70 to get back," Glenn explains, adding that the morning commute takes about an hour and a half. "I have 191,000 miles on my car right now."

Glenn's words of wisdom on trying out a career: "I don't know if this is what I want to do my whole life," Glenn says, "but for right now, it's paying the bills. I'm happy with what I'm doing, and I still have lots of time to do more."