9781422274866

THE COLLEGE QUESTION “I wouldn’t change a thing,” says Lindsay Valencia, summing up her ten years as an auto mechanic. “I really like my job. And on top of that, the pay is good. Every time someone drives away from our shop with their car fixed, I feel good inside. I like knowing that I am helping people.” Lindsay began to consider whether or not she would go to college while she was in high school. “Both my parents are college educated,” she says, “and they both did pretty well financially. When I was in high school, my parents and I assumed that I would go to college, too. Thing was, though, I had no idea what I wanted to study. I didn’t really have any big career goals at that point. In my sophomore year of high school, though, the guidance counselor at my school asked me, ‘If you could do anything with a million dollars, what would it be?’ At first, I came up with all the answers—buy some clothes, go on a vacation, things like that. But he kept pushing me to think about long-range goals, something I

10 CAREERS WITH EARNING POTENTIAL: CHEF Becoming a fan of NASCAR is a great way to learn more about cars. 10 CAREERS WITH EARNING POTENTIAL: CAR MECHANIC