Aavnika Prasad:

As a child, she dreamed of stepping into a zero-gravity space; senior Aavnika Prasad wanted to be an astronaut. 

“I wanted to see if there were more stars out there than we can see on Earth,” Prasad said. 

Although her current aspirations have diverted, her early interest in science molded what she now desire.

 “I don’t want to be an astronaut anymore, but I still want to pursue [science, technology, engineering, art and math] (STEAM!) I want to be an architectural/environmental engineer,” Prasad said. 

Her beginnings, hoping to go beyond Earth into the limitless outer space, are what she credits for her everlasting love for science and unbounded curiosity.

“I think my childhood dream job sparked my curiosity and love for learning about science!” Prasad said. 

She may not be going to space, but she hopes to make spaces more efficient and environmentally friendly here on Earth. 

Rogia Banibashar:

Opening herself up to the possibility of encountering dogs, cats, and the occasional tarantula, senior Rogia Banibashar imagined a future where she would be a Veterinarian. Her love for animals from an early age, along with the influence of seeing women in her family taking up this career with so much passion, inspired Banibashar to pursue it. 

“I had a family member who was a surgical vet and she really inspired me because she saved lives and was so good at what she did,” Banibashar said.

As she went through more of her education and realized that her strengths lay not within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) but in the humanities, she pivoted and decided on a whole new career path.

“I don’t plan on becoming a vet anymore because I realized I was better at English and history. I became more passionate about politics and law as I took more classes. I discovered I wanted to go to Law school and make an impact to help people around the world,” Banibashar said. 

Even though quite different from what she once pictured for herself, Banibashar admitted that her dream of being a vet helped her uncover her passions

“My childhood dream job definitely made me realize I am a huge humanitarian and want to help as many people as I can,” Banibashar said. 

Guiliana Levy: 

Zoologist, author and makeup artist were among Guiliana Levy’s list of dream jobs as a kid. From watching “Wild Kratts” and finding inspiration for becoming a zoologist to her passion for writing evolving into her desire to become an author, as a child, Levy was not quite set on a single career. Middle school and high school are when she started to piece together a better sense of what it was that she saw herself pursuing.

“I wanna be a communications major probably. Being a script writer is the dream, but we’ll see,” Levy said. 

She also explained that by experimenting more with what she initially dreamed of, she was able to narrow down her potential career paths.

 “I wanted to be a makeup artist for a second, but I did tech makeup and realized that I don’t like touching people’s faces,” Levy said.

As she has gained more experience, she has found more clarity in the type of work that she is passionate about. Levy conveyed that although adults have good intentions when it comes to asking about future plans, excessive questioning can quickly become overwhelming and stressful.

“To this day, I hate when adults ask me that too much. I literally always felt so stressed. I was like what am I gonna do. I can’t believe I haven’t already decided. But looking back, it was not a big deal at all,” Levy said