Once a VOXer, always a VOXer. Our series “Life After High School” features recent VOX ATL alums giving the teens coming up behind them the real deal on what life is like after graduation.

In my second year of college, life after high school is honestly a rollercoaster of responsibility. There are so many moments where I take pride in my new role as a young adult that is responsible for all of my actions and other times when having to pick up all of the pieces on my own makes the whole experience ten times more exhausting to handle.

There have been so many moments in the short two years that I have lived thousands of miles away from my parents that have taught me a lot about the kind of person that I am without my home base to lean on. Ironically, this is also a time of so much indecisiveness. You get here and realize that maybe that thing you wanted to do no longer suits you or the type of people you would hang out with in high school are completely different from the friends you are making now.

Overall, life after high school is one giant balancing act, but it’s all about making it worthwhile. To anyone nervous about life after high school, I would say that the key is to trust yourself and appreciate the little things that makes the work you’re doing worth it when things get super busy because they definitely will. 

Destine Manson is a VOX ATL alum and 2018 graduate of Benjamin E. Mays High School. She is currently attending New York University (NYU), majoring in journalism and politics.