By: Rachael Schirato
Not everyone knows what the future holds, but some spend the entirety of high school preparing for what’s to come.
Hundreds of students pass through Hershey High School each year with a specific goal for the future. Others know little about the future before graduating high school; however, students have been using the resources that Hershey High School supplies to discover and build their careers.
Sharmila Segar, a first year medical school student at the Medical College of Georgia, graduated Hershey High School in 2011. Segar’s experience in high school could be described as “the full experience,” one that readied her for the future. She focused on both academics, extracurriculars, and sports. She dedicated her time to Key Club, Mini-thon, and The Broadcaster. She was also an active member on the track and field team. Academics being a key feature, she studied calculus, psychology, and journalism. Segar noted that, “HHS prepared me extremely well.”
Graduating several years prior to Segar, Evan Beatty from the Hershey High School Class of 2008 had a similar high school experience. She was a member of Swim Team and she participated in Track and Field. She also wrote for The Broadcaster and chaired the food committee of Mini-thon.
Beatty, like Segar had an equal balance in school, sports, and extracurriculars. She had a rigorous course load: Tech Writing, AP Biology, and Journalism. Beatty said, “ Looking back now I have no idea how I did it all, but I am pretty happy that I did.”
Beatty attributes her busy high school career, specifically her time on the swim team, to her current one. She is now living in Baltimore County as an Education Specialist in the Formal Education Department at the National Aquarium. Beatty creates and runs the education programs and teaches a wide variety of both students and teachers.
According to Beatty, Hershey High School provided her with invaluable opportunities to prepare for this career. Being on the swim team taught her self discipline and hard work. The various classes she took allowed her to discover her interests and jumpstart her career.
Similar to Beatty, Segar believed that her experiences in high school provided her with the tools necessary to start a career. Specifically, she attributes the “incredible teachers [she] had.” She was given both writing and critical thinking skills in high school to help her excel first in college, then later in grad school.
An especially coveted memory for Segar is that of the Hearts for Ecuador trip offered to students at Hershey High School. Segar said that she went on this trip because she “was really interested in going abroad and [learning] how she could impact other people.”
During this trip, Segar and twelve other students went to Ecuador to do mission work. There they were introduced into the world of health. Segar believes this trip was the reason she pursued a career in medicine.
Currently, Segar is a first year medical student, where she continues to progress through a course to become a doctor. She is not yet certain what field of medicine she would like to study but has taken interest in fields such as pediatrics, family medicine, neurology, and internal science.
Segar notes that Hershey High School has a large number of opportunities for students. She compared this to the educational backgrounds of other students at Schreyer Honors College in Penn State, where Segar worked towards an undergraduate degree in medicine.
Beatty also acknowledged Hershey High School’s opportunities. “It gave me a bit of a leg up when I went to college,” Beatty said.
In contrast to both Beatty and Segar, Barbara Clouser, HHS Class of 1985, came back to her old stomping grounds. She is now a Spanish teacher and is heavily involved with the Hershey High School Community. She is also the advisor for Student Council and Hershey Community Youth Alliance, a girl’s lacrosse coach, a chair of the language department, and an advisor for Color Guard. Clouser explains that she likes her job.
“I like working with students especially,” Clouser said.
Clouser had always loved the Spanish language. She was the Spanish Club President in high school, which built a foundation for career focused on the language. Her teachers “encouraged [her] to study in college.”
For these alumni, Hershey High School has played a critical role in their careers.
“HHS prepared me extremely well,” Segar said.
