What Does the Future Hold? Part One

Elijah Brown, Writer | November 31, 2025

Kylee Garcia (LEFT) & Chase Solis (RIGHT) - Photo Courtesy of Elijah Brown

For most people, their senior year of High School is the last year before the start of their life. As we head into adulthood, there are a lot of things to consider. What do you plan to do after high school? Are you going to college? Are you going straight to work? Maybe you plan on going to a trade school, or you're going to take a gap year for self-discovery.

Everyone's plans are different, and the future is hard to predict, so this is the first half of set of articles detailing the dreams of a few Carson High School (CHS) seniors. These articles will follow the stories of Chase Solis, Kylee Garcia Eris Mojarro, and Niya Carpenter.

For these first two articles, I will ask them all a series of questions. In the next set of articles which will likely come out in the month of May, I will revisit these seniors to find out what might have changed with them.

This is the first part of the beginning of the year articles, so it will feature the interviews of Chase Solis and Kylee Garcia.

Interview One: Chase Solis

Elijah: We can jump right into the questions. My first question is: What do you plan to do immediately after high school?

Chase: Immediately after high school? Man, I need a long break. I need to tale a year off, man, at least. I'm not really thinking about getting a job. I mean, my mom already takes care of me. I love her for that, appreciate her. I think I'm just gonna take a nice, long break.

Elijah: What is your long term plan or your dream job?

Chase: Man, my end goal, my dream goal, is to become a cop. You know? Ever since I was little I always wanted to do something in law enforcement. As for how I'm going to get there, man? I was also thinking about doing military service. Maybe not as in active duty, but maybe in the reserves. You know? Maybe while I'm in the reserves, I can do California Highway Patrol or maybe join local law enforcement. maybe I can get into LAPS (Los Angeles Police Department), who knows?

Elijah: In a way, something you said answers my next questions, but I'm going to ask it anyway: Did you always want to do that? If so, why? What inspired you?

Chase: What inspired me was a lot of things growing up that still inspire me today. I just want to do good, you know? I want to help the community. I want to help the people, and a big influence there was superheroes. I was a big nerdy guy. And, you know, of course I was devasted when I found out that they don't exist. In terms of now, I see a lot of cops getting bad reps nowadays and I want to prove them wrong, you know? Not all cops are bad. Sure, some have done bad things, but hey, they're still human at the end of the day. Just like us.

Elijah: Now, do you plan on getting to do what you want to do?

Chase: How do I plan on it? Either after I do military service, if I do active duty, or apply within my military service if I do the military reserves. And also graduating high school, cant forget that.

Elijah: Where do you think you'll be in seven to eight months, which is when I plan to interview you again, in about May or June?

Chase: Hopefully, I'm on track on graduation. You know, I'm at least passing my grades with a D or higher. I don't really have any ambitions for college, so I could care less. Hopefully, I finish my classes that I need to so maybe I can have some free space. Hopefully a bit taller, maybe i have my hair shorter. Who knows?

Elijah: When you were younger, did you expect to be where you are now?

Chase: Absolutely not. Honestly, I thought I was just going to be the same old me. Just mundane. Maybe bigger. Just pursuing my past career of being a nurse. But that all changed, obviously, during eighth grade. That's when it kind of got that shift. I never thought I would make it this far, no.

Elijah: Circling back to my question of "Did you always want to do that?" You've added more information. You actually said you wanted to be a nurse, originally?

Chase: Oh yea. It was kind of like a mid-to short-term ambition. My biggest ambitions for that was because of my mother. She works in the medical field. She's in charge of passing out medicine to all of the old people. She works at the Heritage place back over there by UCLA.

Elijah: What changed? What made you want to go from being a nurse to being a cop.

Chase: Well, what changed was that I circled back to what I originally wanted instead of just doing what my mom was doing. Also, with all of the growing news and media and just social media in general. Not just in social media, but also what happens in the real world. You know, I look around and I see all this stuff going on and it’s like, man, I’m really glad we have local law enforcement. I do appreciate what they do for the community, even though some people don’t. You know, and that’s fine. I just really have a soft spot for these guys, you know? It makes me want to do what they do. So I can do something that I actually enjoy, not only enjoy, but something that I actually want to do with my life. Serve and protect the community.

Elijah: Do you think that there is any chance that you will change what you want to do between now and when you graduate?

Chase: Oh, for sure. You know, there’s also other options that I did not mention earlier that I might do. If I don’t do the military, I was thinking about looking into a trade, either becoming a mechanic or a plumber. Maybe even an electrician, working for Edison. The only thing that is staying is that the military will always be a part of my career after high school. My biggest concern is: what do I do after that? You know, being a cop is always going to be my number one. But what if that doesn’t work out? I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow. So, that’s a really big thought that I have in my mind.

Elijah: So, to my understanding, to summarize your plan: you want to take a gap year, and after that, you want to enlist in the military, and when you’re done with that, preferably, you want to become a cop; but if that doesn’t work out, you’ll go to trade school to become an electrician, a mechanic, or a plumber.

Chase: Yeah, that’s about it. That’s all I got. Anything else?

Elijah: Well, let’s dive into your back-up plans, the plumber, mechanic, and electrician jobs. Why are those your back-up plans?

Chase: Those are my back-up plans because my mom gave me these three rules. If I want to stay in her house I have to do one of these three things: enlist in the military, pick up a trade, or go to college. So, I’m pretty sure you can pick up where I got my two options. As for why I chose those three jobs specifically: I just thought, you know, I like fixing stuff and I like cars, you know, so I chose a mechanic job; as for plumbing, hey, it’s dirty work but it pays good; as for electrician, that one’s pretty self-explanatory, they get paid the most. Who wouldn’t want to be an electrician?

Elijah: You also mentioned going into the reserves. What would be the personal benefits  for going into the reserves as opposed to active duty?

Chase: Well, the benefit there is that, when you go into the reserves, you have time. Let’s say, if I were to go to college, the military will pay for your college. So, I can go to school while in the reserves and they’ll call me out if they ever need me. As for me, I want to be in the reserves just in case I want to apply to any local law enforcement. So I can also be a cop while being in the military as well. Or, I can do more training and become what is called a military police, so I can work on bases and all that.

Elijah: Now, I don’t remember you mentioning any specific branch of the military. Do you have any preference or maybe a list of preferences?

Chase: Okay, so, in terms of all of the six branches, my number one to join would be the United States Coast Guard. The Coast Guard, for me, suits my career ambitions. They focus heavily on law enforcement, you know, and keeping our shores safe, fighting and combating all of those drug smugglers and cartels and terrorists that come abroad, even pirates--not those ones that come on ships, obviously, but you know what I’m talking about. And, my second option, surprisingly enough for me, I was thinking about joining the air force... They get higher pay and they have more jobs that people like doing. Also, it circles back to my whole mechanic thing. I’d become a jet mechanic. Maybe not a pilot, since I would need college for that, but I wouldn’t mind staying on the ground. As for my third, I was thinking about joining the United States Marine Corps. As for why I would join the United States Marine Corps, it is partially because I used to be in the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps here at Carson High School, which kind of influenced me to want to join the marines. Also, it’s because they’re kind of a fit for everything. They have aviation, land, water, and they do seem to have a thing for everyone. The reason it’s in third place is because the cost of living isn’t the best for marines, no offense. That’s all I’ve got to say.

Elijah: Well, honestly, I think that’s all of the questions I have for you today. Thank you for letting me interview you, I will see you again in May.

Interview Two: Kylee Garcia

Elijah: My first question for you is: what do you plan to do immediately after high school?

Kylee: Immediately after high school?

Elijah: Immediately, yeah, like are you going straight to college or?

Kylee: Hopefully, obviously, straight to college--if I get accepted, that is, but if not, then I will go to community college in the high desert. Do you want me to expand on that?

Elijah: Yeah, a little bit. Like, what’s your dream college?

Kylee: My dream college? My dream college is CSULB, Long Beach. Monterey Bay, that’s also my dream college. It’s also a CSU. And then another one, honestly, any CSU. Those are my range.

Elijah: What do you plan on studying?

Kylee: Hopefully biomedical science or chemistry and then a minor I really want to do is accounting.

Elijah: Interesting, and if you want to go to community college, do you know what community college you would go to?

Kylee: Yeah, I would go to VVC, Victor Valley Community College, because if that doesn’t work with the CSUs I would go to Victorville, VVC, to get my nursing degree there because they have a good medical program.

Elijah: So you wouldn’t just do the two years, you would get a whole degree over there?

Kylee: Yeah, I would try to, but I was also looking on there. They have transfer programs, which I could go to, I think, UC Riverside, after my two years, so I might consider that.

Elijah: So you’ve got a lot of options?

Kylee: Mhm.

Elijah: What is your long-term plan? Like, your dream job?

Kylee: My dream job? Uhh! A dermatologist. Wait, can I input something? I forgot what they’re called, but like if money wasn’t an option, if I was like a billionaire like Jess Bezos.

Elijah: Yeah, your dream job, like not thinking about money.

Kylee: Oh, not thinking about money?

Elijah: Yeah, what you would do as a passion.

Kylee: Oh! A humanitarian lawyer. I would just, like, fight for causes all around the world. So that would be my dream job, but I know that they don’t get paid that much money. So, unfortunately, I can’t be that. But, probably when I’m fifty and like a billionaire I could.

Elijah: Okay, so, your dream job is humanitarian lawyer, but the job that you’re reaching for is dermatologist?

Kylee: Mhm.

Elijah: Well, have you always wanted to be- Well, okay, since there’s two things that we’re talking about, let’s start with, “Have you always wanted to be a humanitarian lawyer? And if you haven’t, what made you think that you wanted to do that? And if you have, what has been your motivation this whole time?”

Kylee: Well, like, I think it’s like everyone’s dream, “Oh, I want to help people.” So it kind of like sparked the humanitarian one. But I think more so as we saw, like, Ukraine and Russia, Gaza and Israel, it like impacted me more and I was like, “Wow, that could like-” It was like families, I wanna help families and like, because like- obviously I haven’t been through trauma before but I have generational trauma from wars so I do know the impacts of it and the dangers of it. So, I just want to help people be aware of that.

Elijah: So, originally, it stemmed from a wanting to help people and evolved into a specific career?

Kylee: Yeah.

Elijah: And for dermatologist, when did you decide that you wanted to do that and what motivated you for that?

Kylee: For that, I think it’s because my dad, he’s a nurse. I did want to be in the medical field, I just didn't know which way. And then like, my mom, she has psoriasis so that affects her a lot. So I was like, “Oh, I want to help with that!” But I also saw that dermatologists help with skincare which would also tie into the humanitarian thing because, if I were to become a dermatologist I would want to move to a third world country to help with skin cancer. There’s no real cure for it because it depends on what level or like how severe it is, but obviously in third world countries they don’t have those types of resources so that’s just some way that it connects to humanitarianism.

Elijah: So if you chose the lawyer route, would you stay in this country?

Kylee: I don’t think so.

Elijah: So either way you plan on going to another country?

Kylee: Hopefully, yeah. That’s the dream. 

Elijah: So, since your more realistic plan is dermatologist, we’re going to stick with that one. How do you plan on getting there? Like, do you have, like, a game plan, pretty much?

Kylee: Um, not really. Like, I do know the requirements I need for that. I just don't know the steps, as to, like, nobody's, my family's, like… because essentially a dermatologist is a doctor, so I'm like nobody in my family is a doctor, like everybody's like engineers or like they do have a degree but like it's not like a doctorate. No one in my family has it, so I don't have any guidance on that, but I do obviously have the internet, so I have just been using that. So essentially, the route is I would obviously go to a four-year and hopefully I could go straight to medical school after that. If not, I will probably take a year break, go to medical school, which is also four years, and after that I would have to do residency to study under somebody, and then I have to take, like lawyers, a bar exam, and hopefully ace that. So that will take approximately 12 to 14 years, hopefully.

Elijah: Very long term

Kylee: Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, the pay is good, which makes the possibility of me going to a different country even better, easier.

Elijah: So, am I right in assuming that if you were to become a dermatologist, you would stay here for a couple of years as you, like, get money, and then you would go to a third-world country and help them with your knowledge there?

Kylee: I don't know where I would, if that is plausible. But the skin cancer rate, because I think, I don't know how the statistics are around the world, how many people die of skin cancer, but I know it's high, because they don't have sunscreen, they don't have the knowledge about it. So, yeah, I'll just spread my knowledge, but yeah. Here you go.

Elijah: Okay, okay. On a slightly different note, a more short-term note, where do you expect to be in about seven to eight months when I plan on interviewing you again?

Kylee: Hopefully already applying to colleges, well obviously, I think now we should be applying, I think

Elijah: Yeah, a lot of the deadlines are starting to come closer.

Kylee: Okay, in May… Hopefully, I will get my college credits for one of my college classes I'm taking, so I get 10 credits, which is like two classes, I assume, I think, if I remember. And then be in, finishing dual enrollment, because what? Because May and then June, we have one more month of school, yeah. So hopefully, being in a dual enrollment class, like finishing it up. Um, what else? I don't know what else. Because I'm thinking, like, school-wise.

Elijah: Yeah, I mean, I guess, how do you expect to be doing in your classes? Do you think you'll have straight A's, a couple B's? Do you think you'll be doing better or worse?

Kylee: I think this year I could have straight A's, because right now I just have two B's, which is fine. But I feel like I'll probably end the school year with almost everything A's, but there will be, like, one or two B's, most likely.

Elijah: Do you have any, like, goals that you want to accomplish between now and then?

Kylee: Um, hopefully, I want to golf, because, like, it's good for networking, though, that’s the thing. So, like, I'm also thinking ahead of that, too, so that I could be like, hey, like, if you want to support me in my journey, like, give me money, and then I'll, like, give you a discount when I become, you know, you know? So, like, networking, obviously, that's a huge thing. Um…

Elijah: So you want to golf, you want to network, and you want to have straight A's.

Kylee: Yeah. And then, like, I'll, like, learn languages.

Elijah: Is there any language specifically that you want to be more proficient in by the end of this school year?

Kylee: Yeah, because, like, I'm already, like, I know what they say, I just can't respond back. Like, in Vietnamese.

Elijah: Okay. So, let's kind of take your mind back a couple of years, like when you were a freshman or in middle school.

Kylee: I was a baby.

Elijah: Did you expect to be where you are now and have the ambitions that you do now when you were a freshman or beyond that?

Kylee: Oh, I did not know. Because, like, when I was a freshman, I was, like, I had no idea what I wanted to be. Like, I didn't know what I was going to be in high school. Like, I was like, oh, my gosh, like, I'm so scared. I'm a little baby, like, you know. But my ambitions now and then are very different. Like, because, like, when I started high school, I had no ambitions. I had no dream jobs. Like, everything I wanted to be, like, in the future was more so, like, what people told me.

Elijah: You didn't have your own ambitions; you just let people tell you what they thought that you should do?

Kylee: Yeah. Now I'm like, okay, I do know what I want to be, but then people still are like, oh, no, why are you being that? You should be this. But I'm like, no, I'm certain on this now. And then what else? What else did I think of freshman year? I'm thinking school-wise, too. I didn't think all my grades mattered this much. Which obviously I was dumb for thinking that I don't know why I thought that, but I think it's because I’ve just seen the people around me like what like my grandpa and like my dad they all they didn't do the best in school and like they told me multiple times when I was growing up so I feel like that also kind of reflected negative like negatively on me making me have the mindset of “Oh, it's not that important” but like obviously now as I'm older-

Elijah: So they were telling you it wasn't as important?

Kylee: Well, like, no, they would tell stories about it. And then, like, they would tell me, like, “Oh, don't get bad grades.” They'll be like, “Oh, get good grades.” But then, like, I saw their stories. And then me, I'm like, “Well, why did they get bad grades? And why do I have to get good grades when you guys got bad grades?” So it's kind of like…

Elijah: So instead of letting them lead by their word, you let them lead by example.

Kylee: Yeah. Which was also dumb. I don't know why I did that. But obviously now, like... I know better because I'm pretty smart now. Pretty knowledgeable. Um, what else? Oh, and like as a freshman, like I was like, what's it called? At first, I was like, Oh, I want to be a hairstylist. And I was like, eh-

Elijah: I think I remember that.

Kylee: Yeah. And I was like, eh, that's kind of boring, though. And then I was like, Oh, let me be a hospice nurse. And I was like, that's too sad, bro. Why do I want to be in hospice? No, thank you. And then I was like, it just kind of, like... And as soon as I got a little bit older, I kind of realized it's been in the medical field. It went to hospice, nurse, I think pharmacist. So they are all somehow connected towards the STEM program. I was like, Oh, why don't I just branch out in that? And then I found dermatologist. I was like, “Oh, I really like that.” And especially because the pay is good. I mean, yeah, like 12 years is kind of long. But I mean, it'll be worth it in the end, though.

Elijah: So your motivation for being a dermatologist isn't- it's not just the fact that you can help people through that, but also it pays better than the lawyer option.

Kylee: Yeah, because it's like a, oh, thank you for your work kind of thing... So it's like, oh, I feel good about doing this, and also I'm getting paid. Who wouldn't be happy to be getting paid for something?

Elijah: Fair enough, fair enough.

Kylee: Yeah.

Elijah: Okay! Yeah, I mean, I think those are all the questions that I have for you. Okay, thank you.

Kylee: Go to class.

Elijah: I'll see you in May!

Conclusion

Since the interviews ran quite long, this is only the first part of the first set of articles on this topic. Already, just from these two interviews, it’s clear how different people can be. The second part will show these differences even more.