POTENTIAL career interests can change over time. What someone once wanted to be as a freshman can be different from what they want to be as a senior. As time goes by, interests and hobbies change.

Granger High School offers many different elective courses in which students can explore their interests. These include art, dance, music, drama, automotive, business, and many more.

Juan Zavala (12), is a senior student taking an automotive class. “In my freshman year, I was very interested in cars. I still am, but back then, I wasn’t sure of any career path. Now, I work on liquid services as well as pre-delivery and used car inspections,” Zavala said. His story is an example of how career paths can change slightly, but not completely. He is still interested in the automotive field, though he did not become exactly what he imagined a couple of years ago.

Freshman students are preparing themselves for their future careers, too. “I probably want to work in the medical field, but I might change my mind,” Natalia Lopez Lee (9) said. She says she is looking forward to taking Medical Terminology at the Granite Technical Institute or GTI.

GTI courses are a great way for students to explore their career interests. It’s easy to test a career’s appeal by taking a class at the GTI. Otherwise, students must rely on personal research or actual college enrollment. A GTI class can be like a test drive. “I’m planning on becoming an ultrasound technician — I heard there are GTI courses that can help me get there,” Bibiane Estrada (9) said.

As can be expected, a change in career interest is completely normal. Many adults at Granger have ended up in completely different jobs than what they imagined as high schoolers. James Snyder is an author and English teacher. “As a high school student, I wanted to be a college basketball player and a writer,” he said. It’s a great example in which change in someone’s career path happens and things turn out great.

Mr. Snyder was not able to become a college basketball player. “It was partly interest change and partly reality check,” Yet he still succeeded in becoming an author, and now says he loves his job as a teacher.

Thirty percent of adults have changed their minds throughout the path to completing their careers. In 2023 58% of over 2,600 employees claimed to currently be attempting a career change, according to a survey on the flexjobs.com website.

Interests may change over time, but this does not mean anyone will be unsuccessful. Choosing a different career path to follow is not a negative change, especially for high school students.