When Carley Reichert, a senior at Lindbergh High School, thought about her future a lot of things came to mind. As busy as she was with balancing senior year– what with hanging out with her friends and family, taking acrobatic, jazz, ballet, tap dance and taking care of her dog, Josie, or Jo for short– the thought of life beyond high school crossed her mind a decent amount. However, it’s the balancing of all of these aspirations that proved to be the real difficulty.
“I’m focusing on coming to school everyday,” said Reichert. “Even though people say senior year is the most relaxed year of high school, you still have to try.”
Reichert wants to continue her education after graduating, that’s for sure. She planned on going to The University of Missouri in Columbia, but as for what she wanted to major in, she was just not so sure.
“There’s a lot of things I want to do,” said Reichert.
In going beyond the picture after college, she grappled with the idea of moving to New York City; she really wanted to live there, as the lively, quick-paced and busy nature of the city perfectly fits her lifestyle.
“My friends [and I] have actual dilemmas at 3:00 a.m., when we’re hungry and want food and McDonalds isn’t even open. I’m like, I’m not made for this state,” said Reichart. “There’s like one McDonalds within a 30 mile radius of us that’s open 24 hours. In New York, you could just get a hot dog and a piece of pizza at 4:00 a.m.”
As much as New York has its perks, such as the freedom of walking more comfortably at night, there are still a few things that she was wary of. A huge factor of living in such a crowded place as New York City was its massive cost of living. In videos that she saw across TikTok, she noticed that rent costs were hardly proportional to square footage.
“Like that’s what’s not worth it– paying that much money. But some people find a small [apartment] that’s nice, tiny, and then they live there. It’s possible,” said Reichert.
Ultimately, as consuming as the thought about the future is, it’s important to savor life and its moments as they pass by, one step at a time. These smaller enjoyments are important to Reichert as well; whether it be watching the Vampire Diaries, attending a football game… or even being a new Pilot staff writer.
“Everyone says that senior year is the best year of high school,” Reichert said. “I wanna experience it all.”
