If you would like some insight or advice on high school life, the best way to get those answers is by asking those who have already been through it. But if you have no one to ask this article can act as your example of someone else’s journey

Isaac Perez is currently 18 years old, and as a part of the graduating class of 2026, he is in the last two months of his senior year here at Eisenhower high school. His plan after graduation is to study art at California State University Chico, 8 hours away from our school in Rialto. He has already been accepted by the university and is preparing for this big change. So what did he do that allowed him to get into a university right after high school?

When freshman year started, Isaac was slightly intimidated by his new, bigger school. He was also troubled by a feeling of isolation, “it was definitely harder to find anyone who really understood me”, he stated, “I now realize how similar things were in middle school”, “students seemed uninterested in talking to me”.

Like everyone else, Isaac has his strengths and weaknesses, he’s never struggled with writing assignments, English is his best subject, “I don’t regret getting a harder english class” he stated. However when asked what was his biggest struggle academically, I was told, “My biggest struggle during freshman year, would be, and STILL IS Math”. In order to keep up with all his work, and to get some assistance in understanding math, Isaac frequently visited our tutoring hub after school, where he got help from his teachers.

Isaac was still figuring out what he wanted his future career to be, “My plan, originally, was to go into designing blueprints and schematics and such”. He quickly realized that math was heavily involved in that career choice, and due to his prior experience, he figured that it’d be better if he chose something else to focus on, so instead he followed up on a newfound passion of his.

One of Isaac’s very inspirational friends had convinced him to join Ike’s theatre program as a part of stage production. There he began by supporting the actors as part of the tech crew, as the years went on, and Isaac became more comfortable, he began taking on acting roles, even playing the lead role in the production of “The Doctor in Wonderland” and Olaf in “Frozen the Musical”. He was enjoying himself, and meeting more people with similar interests through the program.

Then one day in class, his amazing theatre teacher, Mr.Ressa, showed off a presentation of the school he graduated from, Chico state university, it interested Isaac and he kept it in mind, “Eventually I talked to my parents about it and even Ressa, he filled me in on some benefits and even a trip to Chico to really convince and go through with it”. Isaac had now discovered a school that he liked and a new subject to study, “Acting and doing art is my new plan”.

So the process began by filling out by both the fafsa, and an application for financial aid from the state, then afterwards students typically use the CCGI application in their clever portals to send in their applications to the colleges of their choice which also includes what major they plan on going after, for Isaac it was to chico state for an art degree.
And sure enough after a few weeks he received an email from chico that let him know he was in fact accepted, and could start school in 2026. However the process doesn’t end when you get accepted, this part is different for everyone depending on a few things, where you’re going, how much help your getting, what you wanna study, but the general things it can include are, sending your school your intent to inform, applying for housing on campus, scheduling your classes, and applying for a job.

It can seem like a lot, however there are resources available that are meant to help make every step of the process easier, for our school something that helped was visiting the career center, the people there walk you through filling out whatever application or form you need, though if that’s not an option, talking to your teacher, counselor, or whoever you can would also be a big help, as well as searching for help online, when I asked, what worked for him in school Isaac said, “Speak up, Study, and get help if you need by asking for it if your ever struggling”.