Senior year for most students is an exciting time, but can also be very stressful.  Students face the daunting task of filling out college applications, making the decision on what college to attend after receiving acceptance letters and finally declaring a major for their desired field of study.  Seniors at THS have varying fields of work that interest them and popular majors for graduating seniors include education, precision machinery, performing arts, engineering, and architecture.

Senior Dominique Mulero  is interested in coaching softball and plans to major in physical education. Mulero is heading to  Virginia State University and hopes to return to Pittsylvania Country to teach after receiving her degree. Mulero chose VSU because other family members also attended here and she feels at home on the campus .Tuition and room and board will total $72,520.00 and  research shows an average high school teacher’s salary is $45,775.00

Seniors Matt Pyrtle and Cory Carter are both interested in pursuing a career in the field of precision machinery and plan to complete the program at Danville Community College.  Pyrtle and Carter are both students in the vocational program affiliated with DCC this year and will only need to complete one year at the community college to graduate from the precision machinery program. One year at DCC is will cost about $3,500.00.  Research shows recent graduates from the precision machinery program are making  an average of $45,000.00 per year. Pyrtle says, ” The pay is real nice and it’s appealing to make $30.00 per hour after completing the precision machinery program at DCC.” Both students plan to stay in Virginia or North Carolina after graduation.

Caleb McFarling, senior at Tunstall, plans to attend Roanoke College next year and pursue a degree in performing arts.  McFarling became interested in this field after taking Mrs. Williams drama class. Roanoke College’s four year tuition totals $151,208.00 and jobs in the performing arts have a wide range of salaries from $22,000.00 to over 1 million a year.  McFarling plans to move far away from Danville, but not sure where he will make his home, maybe Hollywood, California.

Alex Garcia is heading to Virginia Tech next year and plans to major in engineering and focus in the area of chemical engineering in the medical field. Garcia will be leaving how to put chemical to work and feels like this major will be in high demand for upcoming generations. He chose VT because of its excellent engineering program.  Tuition runs about $19,000 a year and the average chemical engineer’s salary is $95,000.

Senior Brandon Farris will be attending the University of Virginia next year and majoring in math. Farris said, “I enjoy math and it comes natural to me, so this is why my career will focus in this area.” Farris chose to attend UVA because it has an excellent math program and hopefully the prestige of the university will help him land a high paying job after graduation.  Total tuition, including  room and board will cost Farris about $ 89,000 for four years and a mathematician’s average salary is $105,000.

Graduating seniors will be heading to college in several months and their majors will be diverse.  Research shows many students will change their majors several times before graduation, but hopefully they will find their perfect niche in life.