As the class of 2023 embarks on their last year of high school, they are set on figuring out what comes next in their lives. 

Senior Jenis Fehling is set on attending New York University next year for their business program. She said that her inspiration for going into that major was the business and marketing classes here at PHS. 

“Majors aren’t concrete but throughout high school I took Business and Marketing I, II and III,” Fehling said. “They just interest me… I continued to take the class and I think it’s also just a broad and universal major… I’ve always been really interested in entertainment marketing specifically, that could lead to like music or sports marketing.” 

Senior Allison Markley says she is ready and excited to go to college and get out of Washington. 

“I’m going to Montana for school; I’m really excited to get out of Washington and go experience the culture,” Markley said. “My sister met a lot of people when she was in college from all over the country and that’s what I am looking forward to most is just getting out of people I’ve been going to school with since I was in elementary school.” 

Fehling said last year she placed fifth at state and qualified for nationals with the DECA program and she said she hopes to do it again this year along with her many other goals she hopes to accomplish. 

“I want to go to Nationals again… I hope to get a good SAT score, I am currently stressing about it. Overall, just have good grades and then live it up my senior year because it’s the last one,” Fehling said. 

Although Fehling hasn’t always known what she wants to do when she grows up, she said that placing at nationals helped her figure it out. 

“I’ve never been the person to really be like, ‘I want to be a doctor’ or ‘I want to be like this’, I’ve always been very open because I don’t know exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up,” Fehling said. “I think placing at state and then having the opportunity to go to nationals and experiencing that, it was very encouraging because it allows me to work harder.” 

Markley said she hopes to go to college to become a nurse practitioner because she loves helping people and that is her way of making an impact.  

“I want to be a nurse practitioner… and then I want to work with children, I want to be in surgery helping and assisting with surgeries… the biggest thing for me is helping people. I don’t mind blood and I love caring for people and I think that’s the biggest way I can impact people,” Markley said.  

Markley said she has been volunteering at Multicare Hospital for the last two months in order to prepare herself and get a look into what she’s in for.  

“I work on the fourth floor and it’s like a cardiac and disease [floor]… They have non emergent call lights so I can go in there and give them juice. I’ve also been doing that for two months now, so the nurses know me and when they go to put an IV in, they’ll call me to come watch… I’ll even ask them ‘how did you get it in this way’,” Markley said.  

Markley said one of her biggest inspirations is her mom, as her mom has paved the way for her success and her future.  

“[I aspire to be like] my mom. My parents got divorced when I was little, she never had a boyfriend, she’s always just relied on herself…” Markley said. “She had to pay for college on her own and so now looking at her… I’ve lived the life that she wished she had and for me, wanting to be a mom when I’m older, it’s super inspirational. Her story, she like ‘I don’t need a man’ is awesome for me.”