Students all over Lewis-Palmer High School are preparing to graduate as the year comes closer to an end. This past week has been application week. The senior class has been submitting their applications to all of the colleges that they hope to attend.

Billy Cook 12 recently committed to Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and will be attending the university next August. Cook committed with the college this past June and will be attending the school to play baseball and study law and business.

“I am looking forward to playing sports and being able to visit the beach while I am there. Pepperdine is the only university I applied to before committing and now that I have a school that I know I am going to attend, I feel a lot less stressed,” Cook said.

Before students can commit to a college or be accepted, they have to go through the application process. Once they have submitted their applications, the colleges choose whether they accept the students or not.

“Applying for college is definitely very stressful and a long process. The most stressful part about filling out your applications is that you have to write a lot of essays. The essays are hard because you have to word everything perfectly and make sure everything is setup correctly,” Cook said.

Mallory Lager 12 is also looking forward to her college years but she has not yet committed to a university. Lager has been looking at a couple of different colleges including Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University. She has applied to both colleges but has not made a final decision on which school she wants to attend.

“The application process for college is really stressful and requires you to write a lot of essays. You also have to apply for all your scholarships which take even longer because you have to fill out separate applications for them,” Lager said.

Lager is hoping to attend college to study biochemical engineering. She is looking forward to meeting new people and being surrounded by a more academic community. Lager is also excited to be involved in new things, learn about new things and take harder classes at her university.

Lager is happy to be committing to a college soon and is excited to see what college has in store for her. She is planning on having interviews with both the schools and will decide on which college she would like to attend after she has had her interviews.

Cook and Lager are excited about their futures and are looking forward to starting a new chapter in their lives at their colleges. They will be leaving after they graduate to move into their new homes and cannot wait to start their college education.

Other students in the school are planning on going into the workforce directly after they graduate high school. Those students are looking to start a career and focus on their work rather than focusing on their school career.

One student, Daniel Rios 12 will finish earning all his credits by the end of the first semester and is planning on graduating from Lewis-Palmer early. He has finished his classes and will be graduating this   

He will be attending Pikes Peak Community College to receive a school background when he is not working full time. Rios is currently working at his dad’s Computer Numerical Control or CNC machine shop.

“Working with my dad is a good experience and it definitely teaches me a lot about CNC machines and business in general. Being able to work with him gives me a different outlook than most employees,” Rios said.

Rios has been working in his dad’s shop since he was eight years old. He started working in the shipping and receiving department and when he was twelve he began working in the machine shop. After he graduates he would like to open his own cnc shop and work on more machines like his dad does.

“I am looking forward to graduating early and being able to really focus on getting more hours into working,” Rios said. “It can be difficult trying to balance work and school so it will be nice graduating so that I can focus on work and build more for myself and learn more about this career.”