Dezjuan Smith
What are your post grad plans?
I’m going to go to SUNY Purchase to get a BFA in Photography.
What’s led you to that path?
I feel like I’ve always had a creative spirit. I love stories and reading and watching movies. I find visual media combined with storytelling really compelling. I was hoping to get more into filmmaking and started with photography as a springboard to that, but I fell into photography and have been working with my camera pretty consistently for the past two years.
What do you hope your generation will contribute to the world as you step out on the next phase of your journey?
It’s hard to say, and I don’t want to give my generation too much praise, but I think it has a lot of sensitivity. That can be good and bad, but I think our ability to be sensitive is very powerful and is starting to shift our current society and expand viewpoints. It’s helping people trust and relate to each other more. It’s like there’s been a reset with Covid and a lot has come up about relationships and intimacy and love, but in a different way from the 60s kind of love. It’s deeper than that related to diversity. My generation has grown up within that energy started by the millennials, and we’re changing things. I’m hopeful it’s for the better, but it’s definitely change.
Quinn Haley
What are your post-graduation plans?
I will be attending St Johns College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
How do you think Waldorf Education has prepared you for the future?
I’m most grateful for the deeply artistic perspective Hawthorne Valley has emphasized in every field we explore. Seeking the intrinsic beauty built into every subject–from astronomy to chemistry to math–has allowed me to feel excited about subjects that usually wouldn’t interest me as much.
Zoe Jansen
What are your post-graduation plans?
I plan to take a gap year, to work and travel and take some time to explore my interests.
What’s led you to that path?
I applied and was accepted to some really great schools that I was very interested in, but ultimately, I felt like taking some time for myself would be the smartest thing to do, personally and financially.
How do you think Waldorf Education has prepared you for the future?
I think Waldorf has prepared me for the future by giving me a very artistic and creative education, providing me with the knowledge and tools needed as well as the space to operate within my artistic sensibilities, and allowing me to develop new skills and passions.
Read more about the graduating Class of 2022 here!
