For some seniors, going off to college is an exciting adventure, but others aren’t so excited to be leaving their friends, families, and hometown. Some seniors are struggling to decide where they want to go while others have known since their freshman year.

Tristan Bleisch is going to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He chose to go to this college because of cost and education preferences. When asked if he had cried about one of his “lasts” he said “I cried when one act ended because it closed a chapter of my life that had been a massive part of it until that point. It made me realize that I am not going to see most of these people next year, and possibly ever again. That’s pretty much it, i’m leaving a huge part of my life behind when I graduate and have to leave a whole lot of good people too, just gonna miss the good times and the good people I gained in my life from One Act.”

Brielle Alwin is a Senior who is not ready to go to college. When asked if she has cried about one of her “lasts”, she said, “I cried over my last Old West Choir Fest, last districts for One Act, and the very last performance for One Act when my director said, ‘Congratulations! We are done!’” Brielle is going to Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. She has wanted to go to this college for over a year but she didn’t get accepted until this month so she didn’t really know her final destination until recently. She said, “I couldn’t decide on any other college until I found the one I am planning on going to. The campus was beautiful and after a campus visit, I felt as if I saw myself there.”

Luxie West is deciding between UNL and UNK, saying “I really like both of the campuses equally and they’re both nice places to live. They are both really open and there’s lots of activities for both of them.” Luxie says she is ready to go to college, but like most of the other seniors, she has cried about one of her “lasts”. When she was asked what she cried about, she responded, “Leaving all of the memories and my friends behind. I’m not ready to leave everything behind, but I am really excited about college life and what’s to come in the future.”

Counselor, Mr. Lanik says that about 50% of the seniors have decided where they would like to go and that the farthest colleges people are looking at are Hawaii and DUKE. Seems Duke is the closest school to an Ivy League and only 18% of applicants are admitted.

Some Alliance athletes have chosen schools based on athletics as well. Emersen Cyza is signed to University of Wyoming and Ryley Rolls is signed to Laramie County Community College. There are quite a few seniors that are being looked at by colleges for different sports including Blythe Boness, Mason Hiemstra, Boone Wilson, Megan Oligmueller, and Reece Jensen.

The seniors have many different opinions about heading to college and some have a pretty good idea of the college/colleges that they are interested in. Alliance has some fantastic seniors this year and everyone is excited to see what they are going to go off and do!