We all remember the starry-eyed days of Sixie year. Emboldened by newfound friendships and the thrill of being admitted into Nobles, you felt as if you could do anything: maybe you would become an astronaut, a best-selling author, or even a Nobel laureate! The possibilities were endless. You were going to change the world, and nothing could possibly stop you.
Little did you know, a great fall into cynicism was rapidly approaching. With each passing tribulation—HHC, Algebra II, Physics—you felt your confidence and passion wane. Then, the college counseling office informed you that you’d probably need at least 1500 on the SAT to get into astronaut school, and your heart sank even deeper. Alas, by senior fall, you were but an empty shell hoping to scrape a C+ average and secure admission into at least one college.
Though the dreams of us upperclassmen have long been crushed, there’s no harm in reminiscing. What do middle schoolers nowadays want to do when they grow up?
Amidst the hopefulness of middle school, there is also quite a bit of uncertainty and indecision. “I want to be a basketball player because basketball is my favorite sport.[…]Being an astronaut or a pilot would be cool. A streamer is also a really good job because you get to sit around and play a lot of games and get paid a lot,” Jowell Perez Valera (Class V) said.
On the other end of the spectrum, some middle schoolers have their future entirely planned out, down to what level of education they want to pursue. “I want to have a JD and an MBA because I don’t want to be a doctor. My sister is doing an MD right now, and she has a lot of work,” Viviette Hong (Class V) said. Evidently, to some ambitious students, there are exactly two possible paths in life: law or medicine. When questioned about why she was considering these two fields, in particular, Hong said, “Every time I’m in the car, and I’m debating with my family, they say that I would be really good at law. Also, I kind of just want to make a lot of money.”
Other students hope to work in fields where they have found early academic success. Gaven Morales (Class V), a co-leader of the Nobles Middle School Finance Club, said, “I probably want to do something in either engineering or finance. I’ve always liked math and science.[…]I’m also really interested in entrepreneurship.” In a similar vein, Tycho Bardon (Class V) said, “I want to be an engineer because I really enjoy math, and I want to create technology that can help advance the world.”
Notably, most middle schoolers seem to derive their career aspirations from an inspirational person in their life. “My dad was initially a lawyer, but he recently went into the catering business. He didn’t really like working for them, though, so he started his own catering business with my uncle. I’m really inspired by him, so I either want to be a lawyer or a chef,” Sebastian Escobar (Class V) said.
In addition to family members, some students find inspiration in upperclassmen at Nobles. “My idol is probably [my] fellow teammate Christopher Kan because he’s a great squash player, and he is very motivational and has a great attitude about the game,” Bardon said. This sentiment is echoed throughout the Nobles community and by students who were in no way coerced into making such comments. “I want to be Chris Kan,” Amy Shen (Class V) said. Shen also articulated a more practical career path just in case her original plans fall through: “I want to be a professional Adopt Me player.” For the uninitiated, Adopt Me is a high-stakes, cutthroat economy simulator on Roblox.
Though the whips and scorns of high school may temper their aspirations slightly, it is clear that this new generation of middle schoolers has a bright future ahead of them. Ultimately, every trailblazer began with big dreams—whether in the lab, courtroom, or Roblox pet shop.
