Keelin Johnson: Life in Colorado

By Abbey Soltis

     Senior year is one of the most important years in a student's life.  It’s about finalizing our future plans, deciding how our college lives will be spent, and furthering our educational career.  Senior years is an experience; it’s where students really begin to find themselves and who they are.  Seniors at Glenelg have put in four years of extremely hard work, preparing them for the next four years of their lives. Glenelg offers classes students can take that interest them.  Senior Keelin Johnson has taken advantage of the classes available to take at Glenelg, which has helped her make her decision on her major. Johnson is currently a senior at Glenelg High School, who will be attending University of Colorado Boulder, studying special education.
 
     Originally, Johnson planned on attending a big university in the south to study business management. Throughout high school, however, she discovered she was meant to go west, where there's snowboarding, mountains, and plenty of trails for adventuring-one of her favorite things.  She also realized that she wanted “to do something more fulfilling with her life and help people,” she said.  She figured out Colorado was perfect for her because of the kind people and the relaxed and open atmosphere. Johnson describes Colorado as a place that makes her happy, with endless adventures and a whole new experience.  She encourages upcoming Seniors to pick a college and a major that will make them happy, and not just base the decision on how much money you’ll make. Johnson looks forward to being able to study exactly what she wants to do with her life, and stay focused on real life things such as living on her own-considering she is entering the real world.  She looks forward to being able to live and experience what Colorado has to offer.
 
     Johnson plans on studying special education in college due to the great experience she had at Glenelg working with kids, she says that is extremely important to use Glenelg as a starting base for potential options for college majors, and that getting a little taste of what it could be like in college could help make decisions.  Johnson believes that everything she learned in high school was beneficial and helped to create who she is today.  Every single adventure she’s been through has added something to her high school espisode. She took advantage of every opportunity so that she could make great memories. According to Johnson, getting involved is the perfect way to create new experiences, which ultimately can make choosing your major much easier.
 
     Moving to Boulder, Colorado  is a huge change from Johnson’s life now.  She hopes to be living in Colorado, even after college.  In ten years, she hopes to be working with special needs kids.  She wants to make a difference in those kids’ lives.  She wants them to get to experience high school, just as she did. With Colorado’s great special education program, Johnson plans to build her career there.
 
     For Johnson, high school has been a series of experiences.  She’s exceptionally excited for the new adventure’s Colorado has in store for her.  However, with that being said, Johnson wants to acknowledge her father for the impact he had on her during high school.  Johnson elaborates that as a Freshman, she tried to fit in and conform to who everyone else wanted her to be. However, with her dad’s help, she now knows that students will feel more comfortable (and make more friends) being who they are.  Her dad was there to help her and talk to her through every situation, and taught her along the way.  He also helped her figure out that she wanted to study special education instead of business.  She plans to continue to gain experiences over the summer and prepare her for the next four years of her new life, which is shaping to be the newest adventure yet.

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