Generation Texas week focuses on life after graduation

Piper Neumann

More stories from Piper Neumann

photo or infographic by Suri Ibukun
SWEET & SUCCESSFUL. Adding whip to the ice coffees, couselor Tricia Neumann serves coffee to seniors during GenTex college week.
Emily Meachen
THE PLACES WE WILL GO. Members of the Class of 2020 use the props of the photo booth to take a picture during Coffee with Seniors in the College and Career Center.
Emily Meachen
CAFFEINATED AND READY TO GO. At the Coffee with Seniors event, senior Darius Johnson sips some the the coffee while in the photo booth.
Emily Meachen
SO MANY CHOICES. Under the pennants of so many colleges, senior Demaris Pelayo and counselor Lori Van Dressar snap a quick picture before school.

As seniors prepare for their high school good-byes, Generation Texas week works to get seniors interested in their life after high school.

Generation Texas was the week before Thanksgiving and included a door decorating contest, a mini-military and trade school fair and a coffee social for seniors. 

“College week is through Generation Texas which pushes seniors across Texas to apply for college and think about college,” counselor Tricia Neumann said.

College week is also a time seniors can be appreciated. Coffee with seniors was a time for seniors to share their college acceptance news with the counselors. Seniors also made pennants for the “Where the Wildkats Go” sign in the hall. 

“This was a time where seniors are rewarded for all their hard work they put into applying for college,” senior Emily Holder said. 

The door decorating contest winner was Mrs. Saldiner’s fifth period class. The door was decorated with a Collegeolopy theme.

The class brainstormed ideas and voted, Saldiner said.

Counselors have done many activities to encourage the seniors.

“We hosted a coffee with counselors and a door decorating contest in order to get the seniors thinking about what they want to do with their life,” Neumann said.

Providing assistance for the seniors so they know their post high school options is one of the main goals of the week. 

“I was able to ask questions about Lone Star College because that is where I want to go when I graduate,” Holder said.

Although the main goal is college, the school has provided other ways to decide what to do after high school.

“We have incorporated things, for example through the military, that can get students thinking about their post high school goal,” Neumann said. “We just hope that we can prepare and inspire to be the best person they can be in their post high school life. And we hope that Generation Texas week helps us succeed.”