Interview Quotes
What’s ahead for Maine?
“Over the next 5-10 years most new jobs in Maine will be in healthcare. That is by far the biggest producer of new jobs, and it is one that does require very specific sets of education and skills. The second most growth will be in professional and business services. This is everything from engineering, accounting, public relations, new media services, insurance, finance, all of those are in the professional and business services. They’ll be the second biggest job producer. And the third is leisure and hospitality: restaurants, hotels, and so on, and related services for tourism and recreation”
Get your FAFSA over with ASAP!
“The thing I don’t think people realize is how beneficial it is to get the FAFSA done early. The application goes up January 1st, so just get it done then! My brother turned his FAFSA in late and it severely impacted his financial aid to the point where he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to take a full course load. He didn’t get enough reminders about it, so he didn’t do it on time and now the consequences are devastating for him. There should be some urgency about filing the FAFSA, and then once it’s done, it’s done, and you don’t have to think about it.”
— in FAFSA tips
Scholarships for every student
“A lot of students are afraid to apply for scholarships, or they think that someone else is going to going to win those scholarships, of course, because there’s somebody else better out there. But there are scholarships for every student. I actually ran across a scholarship for the Bruce Lee Foundation this week—it’s all about your knowledge of Bruce Lee! There are some really unique scholarships out there available for students; it’s just a matter of looking for them.”
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Featured: Take the time to find scholarships
“It doesn’t have to take a long time to research scholarships. Take a few hours, do a google search and find two or three scholarships you feel you might be eligible for. I’ve talked to a lot of students who’ve taken the time to do that and it has made a huge difference in their education and where they were able to go to college. With only a couple of hours, you can see the result of a $500 or a $1000 or even larger scholarship, and those can add up very quickly. There’s a lot of scholarship money out there that isn’t even being used because students don’t take the time to do a search or fill out an application. There are many funding opportunities out there if you take the time to search them out.”
Finding the right fit through an organized college search
“I started looking at colleges the beginning of my junior year of high school. I wanted to be organized; that was my goal. I got out a notebook and got on collegeboard.com and started making lists of anything I thought I was interested in. I went through the schools and looked at all of their websites over and over again.”
Be realistic when applying to colleges
“Be realistic when you’re looking at schools. I hate to say ‘have a back-up school,’ but you really should apply to at least one school you’re very confident you’ll get into. Be realistic about what’s important to you, too. If you’re a homebody and don’t like to be far from home, don’t apply to the school across the country.”
Get involved in your school!
“The more that you’re a part of your school community, the better experience you’ll have in high school. You don’t necessarily have to be an athlete; you can be in the theatre program, or the music program. Getting involved makes you feel more connected with your school, and statistics show that the more involved a student is, the better he or she will do academically.”
— in Getting involved in extracurriculars increases student success
High school academics require greater self-discipline
“You actually have to study; you can’t get by like you have all through elementary and middle school. Tests are harder in high school, and you’ll have to study instead of just cramming at the last minute. Sure, you could get away with that in middle school, but in high school you can’t. Discipline is super important. Push yourself to stick to your schedule and do things on time, because no one is going to be on your back telling you to do your homework. You have so much more freedom in high school that it’s really up to you to discipline yourself.”
As a high school freshman, you’re in the driver’s seat
“At the start of high school, there’s an expectation that students will really begin to take charge of their education. A lot of what we do as guidance counselors is to help students understand what their new role is, that it isn’t that they just get the new freedom to wander around at lunchtime, but that they have to take a new kind of responsibility for themselves, too. As a freshman, you are now in the driver’s seat; you are the one controlling and managing your education.”
— in Entering high school means taking on more responsibility
Featured: Things to consider when thinking about college
“When you’re thinking about what you want to study, you have to think about what jobs are out there. Is it a highly desirably career field? Are there a lot of openings, or you going into a dead-end career? Do only the top 10% of the people graduating get jobs? That’s an important thing to look at.”
— in Things to consider when choosing a major and a career path
Joining a sport eased transition into high school
“At first, being a freshman and not knowing anyone was terrifying, but I started off trying out for the cheering squad for football season, and making the team really helped me. I got in with some of the upperclassmen, and they were so helpful: they helped me get to my classes on time, figure out the different buildings in the school, and all that important stuff you don’t know just coming in. I’m so glad that I joined a sport, and all of my friends who joined sports say the same thing.”
Don’t let social drama be a distraction
“I think that in high school it’s best to just keep to yourself and not get caught up in other people’s drama, because if you get caught up in that, it will get in the way of your schoolwork. If you’re really involved in someone else’s life and what’s going on with that person, then you have no time to do your homework or study. If focusing on gossip is all you want to do in high school, that’s not going to get you anywhere.”
Avoid taking out too many college loans
“I have a friend who went to UNH to become a coach and now has over $150,000 worth of loans. Studying to be a coach isn’t necessarily a bad thing and he’s very good at what he does, but if you think about $150,000, that’s a house in today’s market. So he’ll be paying off the equivalent of one house, and if he wants to buy an actual house or make another big purchase, that’s going to be very hard for him to do. Taking out a lot of loans can have serious consequences.”
Be open to new possibilities in college
“College opens your eyes to new possibilities and new interests. Go to college with the idea that you might not know exactly what you want to do. You don’t have to be stuck with what you said you were going to do when you first got there. For me, I ended up changing my major three or for times even after I decided I wanted to move towards a business degree. Keep your mind open, experience new things, and be prepared to change your plans if that’s what you need to do.”
Come up with a plan in college to pay off your student loans
“While you’re still in school, sit down and really think about what do you want to do when you get out. You’re going to have to do something, and there are plenty of online tools that will help you determine what the salary range is going to be for what you want to do. Then, start to really parse out and compare what you expect to make and what the growth potential is for the field that you’re looking to land in after college. By comparing those figures, you can begin to estimate how much debt you can afford to take on.”
— in Think about what you plan to do after school before taking on student loans
Great gap year experience with the American Field Service
“I think taking a year off was the right thing for me. I decided to take a different path after graduating. A lot of my friends were going right from high school to college. But I decided to do a year with the American Field Service and go to Ecuador and take a year off. I was kind of worried because some people say that you should finish school and go right through college. They think it will be really hard if you take time off and that you’re not going to want to go back. But it was a really good experience for me, and I think I needed that time off to really be ready to go to college.”
Don’t go into business for the money
“If you go into business for yourself for the money, that’s not a good reason. You’ve got to do it because it’s something you’re passionate about. It’s especially true at the beginning because it requires so many hours to get the business off the ground. I don’t begrudge any minute I spent, but I worked at least 80 hours a week for years. But I loved it. I look back and realize those were great times, and it’s because I truly did not care at all about the money. I wanted to build a business. So if your heart is in the right place, that’s step one.”
Internships open doors to jobs and opportunities
“I was in a 20-hour-a week internship program here at Skowhegan Savings Bank when I was in college. I had to keep a blog of my day-to-day activities, and then present my internship program to my college class. And that really opened the door for me. During my internship, my manager at the time basically asked me if I was interested in a position there and if I would consider working there when I got out of college. I liked what I was doing and it was really interesting to me so I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I thought it would work out really nicely for me and maybe turn into a career.”
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Making mistakes on your resume
“There are three areas I can think of in terms of advice on resumes. Number one, be careful of typos. It may sound obvious, but we see them all the time. The other area would be using a correctly spelled word in the wrong place. Finally, the other errors we see a lot are just classical blunders. Misperceptions can make the difference between whether your resume is followed up on or put in the ‘do not call’ pile.”
— in Mistakes he has seen reviewing resumes and cover letters
The first in his family to go to college
“I was the first person in my family to graduate from high school on time. My mom graduated late and my dad dropped out. I was the first person to go to college, so if I graduated from college I could be like, ‘Look. I did this.’ It looks good not only for me but for my younger brothers and sisters who don’t know what they want to do. If I get my degree and I’m doing good in life, hopefully I can inspire them to be like, ‘I want to be like Adam. I want to do that too.’ “
Our Picks
Editor’s Pick: Not having as much money as her classmates
“My family was blue-collar in a white-collar town. My parents worked really hard and did their best, but they had four kids and neither of them had advanced degrees. They did what they could. Even though we were always taken care of and I never wanted for food or clothing or shelter, most of the kids at my very small high school – there were about 60 people in my class – had so much more than I did, and I felt that difference everyday.”
Editor’s Pick: Losing her father and leaving school
“My dad died in 2008 and I dropped out of high school my junior year for about three or four months. I just went to work full-time to keep my thoughts away from school and my dad’s death. I didn’t want to go to school because I didn’t want to be faced with the questions about why I hadn’t been in school. It was embarrassing to me. I let my teachers down, I let my mom down; I let a lot of people down. Finally during my senior year I realized that this is not a game; this is real life and I have to support myself. What could I do without an education?”