Decision Day Does Not Disappoint

As time before graduation ran short, seniors were given one last celebration before cracking open the study books to prepare for finals. This celebration took place on May 1 for National Decision Day, on which high school seniors traditionally declare their plans after high school, whether it be to attend college, join the military, or join the workforce.

College Adviser Haden Parrish organized the event to include inflatables, emotional support dogs, craft stations, and several food carts. With the help of the Student Government Association (SGA), posters for every college, military branch, and trade school that any seniors were planning on attending were posted along the baseball field’s fence so seniors could see them on their way to the event. The Virginia Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni, also attended to encourage seniors about their future plans and to congratulate them on their educational journeys thus far.

A total of 165 seniors attended the event, which is about 61% of the senior class. Many students gave the event high marks for this year’s plans, particularly the inflatables, the emotional support dogs, and the ability to enjoy fresh snow cones for free. “It was a lot of fun,” said senior Rhett Jones. Another senior, Delaney Reed said, “I had a great time. My favorite part was definitely the therapy dogs. They were really cute.”

Parrish thought the event was successful and was happy to provide the seniors with a fun party to end the year. “[The event] marks everything the senior class has been working for since they joined FCPS. It was great to see every one-on-one meeting, representative visit, and field trip come together in one event,” he said.

In order to attend the celebration, seniors had to fill out a mandatory survey detailing their plans after high school. From that survey, Parrish was able to condense the information into the following list of schools and future plans for the 2019 Senior class:

American University

Bridgewater College

Christopher Newport University

Coast Guard Academy

Coker College

College of William and Mary

Cosmetology School

ECPI

Emory & Henry

George Mason University

Hampden-Sydney College

Sargeant Reynolds

James Madison University

Job Corp

Johnson Whales

Longwood University

Mary Baldwin University

Old Dominion University

Piedmont Virginia Community College

Radford University

Randolph College

Randolph-Macon College

University of Arizona

University of Lynchburg

University of Mary Washington

University of Tennessee Knoxville

University of Virginia

Utah State University

UVA-Wise

VCU arts

Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Polytechnic University

Virginia School of Metal

Virginia State University

Virginia Union University

Virginia Wesleyan University

West Virginia University

York College of Pennsylvania

Of the 61% of the senior class that completed the survey, Radford University has the highest matriculation rate of any 4-year school for Flucos, with 10 students attending. JMU and Longwood are tied for second with 6 students each, and CNU has 5 students attending. Over 70 students are planning to attend PVCC in the Fall and 12 students are planning on joining the military.

Now that they have celebrated their future plans, it is time for seniors to focus on finals in order to attend their final celebration of the year: graduation on May 25.