In the fall of 2017, the current senior class began their high school careers. Four years later, they are preparing to graduate. 

The class of 2021 is comprised of 177 seniors. 141 will be attending four-year colleges, 14 will be headed to community colleges, and five will be taking gap years. The most popular schools being attended are Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, tied with 25 students going to each.

To spotlight some of the senior class’ plans, here is a collection of 12 seniors and what they will be doing next year.

Izzy Sprando knew that she wanted to stay in Oregon for college, and when she visited the Oregon State University campus, “I just knew [it] was home for the next four years,” she said. “The campus is gorgeous.”

At OSU, Sprando intends to major in psychology. “I like to help people and I’ve always kind of known that I wanted to be a therapist in some regard so [majoring in] psychology is going to help me get there,” she said. 

Sprando is excited to room with one of her best friends, Maggie Gabrish, as well as explore the social life of college. “School is important,” Sprando said, “but [so is] getting out and enjoying adult life.”

During her four years at La Salle, Sprando has learned that “I’m a really hard worker when I need to be and I also know when to take a break and have fun,” she said. “I think I am a good balancer.” Sprando is going to miss the friends that she has made in high school as well as the “brownies and cookies during lunch,” she said. 

Kai Muraki’s decision to enroll in Seattle University’s Army ROTC program was inspired by the stories of his father’s time in the Marine Corps. Muraki will be majoring in nursing ﹘ in conjunction with the ROTC program ﹘ and then enlisting in the United States Army where he will likely serve in a hospital.

“I like helping out people,” Muraki said. “I honestly think this is… the best way I can do it.” Muraki’s experience at a local care facility during the junior Service Learning Project helped influence his decision to pursue a career in nursing.

Muraki had little difficulty choosing to enroll at Seattle University. “[My family and I] go up to Washington pretty frequently,” he said. “I just want to explore more of Washington [and] see if maybe I can just live there.”

As Muraki thinks about moving on from La Salle, he will especially miss running with his friends on the cross country team because “that’s where I really just got my love of running,” he said.

Stella Mack has wanted to go to New Zealand “ever since I was little,” she said. So, she has decided to go to college there. 

Mack will be attending the University of Otago to major in political science, minor in psychology and chemistry, and earn a diploma of language in Spanish. She then plans to return to the U.S. to go to law school and go into federal politics, “preferably the Senate,” she said. 

In the year to come, Mack is excited to “just be in New Zealand,” she said. “I got a lot of plans that I want to do, [including] scuba diving on the Great Reef.”

With Otago being “literally halfway across the world,” Mack said she is a little nervous. “[It’s the] farthest I’ve heard of anyone else going so that’s definitely hard because I know I’m not going to see my parents or brothers that much.”

Despite feeling nervous about moving so far away from home, Mack feels that La Salle has prepared her for the challenge. “I’ve always been pretty independent,” Mack said, “and La Salle has just kind of helped me grow within that.” 

Noa Taylor will be attending Whitman College in the fall, where he has committed to play soccer at the Division III level. Taylor found that committing to Whitman was “a hard decision,” he said. “But looking back now, I think it’s probably the best decision I could have made.” 

Initially, Taylor was worried about Whitman’s small student body, but after hearing about the experience his friend Logan Warner ‘20 had, he was sold. Taylor said he has liked the small class sizes at La Salle and looks forward to keeping that style of education at Whitman.

“I’m definitely excited about the soccer aspect,” Taylor said. “Not a lot of people get to play competitive sports past the high school level, so I’m excited to try that out and hopefully I’ll get a lot of [playing] minutes.”

Taylor has not yet decided what his major will be but thinks that he will likely end up studying something math or science related.

The location of the University of Washington is a “happy medium” for Maggie Dougherty. “It’s pretty close to home,” she said, “but… not too close to home.”

Dougherty is planning on pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, and dreams of working on character design for a movie, tv show, or video game. 

Reflecting on the impact La Salle had on her, Dougherty credits the school with “a lot of my… [art] experience thus far,” she said. “I was able to take [art classes] all four years and I was able to take the AP Portfolio last year and this year.”

Dougherty feels that she owes it to art teacher Ms. Cha Asokan for her positive experience. “[Ms. Cha] really pushed me to put my artwork out there in a way that I feel like other schools wouldn’t have,” she said.

Dougherty is eager to “explore who I am and who I want to be,” she said. “[UW is] a perfect fit… there’s not any other place I would rather go.

Tsion Begashaw will be attending Oregon State University in the fall and plans to major in architectural engineering while pursuing her interest in fashion design.

Begashaw credits her interests in architecture and fashion to her family who are “more creative and like to do stuff with [their] hands,” she said. “I’ve been a big fan of art and stuff like that… and I also love doing math.”

Transferring to La Salle for her junior year of high school, Begashaw is thankful for Mr. Wild who “has done a great job helping me through accepting who I am and developing my new interest in choir,” she said. She will miss the choir community as she moves on to college. 

Begashaw is also thankful for having “more time to paint and draw during the last two years,” she said. “I discovered that side of myself — the one that’s more creative.”

Alex Fiedler is looking forward to attending the University of Oregon’s Clark Honors College in the fall. “I just like the feel of going to an Honors College at a big public school,” he said. “[It has] the advantages of the size but also… that kind of smaller community to connect with.”

Fiedler is considering a major in economics but “I’m not sure yet,” he said. “I kind of want to explore around and consider my options.” 

 Despite gaining access to the opportunities at a large institution, Fiedler said, “I do get a little nervous about going to, you know, such a big school… [I] don’t want to get super lost in the work.”

While Fiedler is excited to “meet new people and be in a new environment,” he will “definitely miss the teachers [at La Salle],” he said. He credits La Salle for opening him “up to a lot of new sort of ideas about where I might go,” he said, “particularly in terms of math and sort of social sciences.”

Next year Mackenzie Greenslade will be taking a gap year to focus on competitive skiing with the Mount Hood Academy, a program for teen skiers “whose dreams take them to the top of Olympic and World Cup podiums,” according to its website. Her dream is to become a professional skier. Greenslade will also take online classes to become a nurse in the future.

The decision to take a break from formal education was “difficult,” Greenslade said. “I was scared of not following the normal path of going to college right after high school.” 

However, she is looking forward to having “less distractions and just being able to really focus on skiing,” she said. “In the past I’ve had to maintain good grades and also play soccer… but this year, I’ll just have skiing as my main focus.” 

During her time at La Salle, Greenslade developed her time management skills in order to succeed in all her activities. Due to the more rigorous nature of La Salle’s coursework, “La Salle has pushed me and, I guess, prepared me for being on top of my stuff,” she said.

Robby Collman will be attending the College of Western Idaho, a community college, and will be majoring in communications with a minor in either entrepreneurship, business, or marketing. He decided on a major in communications because “I’ve always been a talkative person,” he said, “and it also has a lot to do with business.”

Collman owns his own business, Collman’s Closet, where he sells vintage clothing and shoes. He hopes to either “minor in entrepreneurship or [get a] certificate in entrepreneurship to help grow my business over the next few years,” he said.

The five banners in La Salle’s main hallway have been inspirational for Collman, especially “inclusive community” and “respect all persons.” He likes the idea of having rules for the community that “we’re supposed to live by,” he said. “I would love to have a job that has some version of that.”

In the fall, Ryan Rosumny will be attending Pomona College in Claremont, California and playing football there. “I’m planning right now on studying economics [and] maybe mathematics,” Rosumny said. “I like tracking money… I can see myself in finance or something like that in the future.” 

With regards to living away from home, Rosumny is excited and “a little nervous” to “experience what it’s like to be independent,” he said. 

Rosumny transferred to La Salle in the summer before his junior year. Through that transition, “I kind of learned how to put myself in a new situation,” he said. “I learned that I can be friends with people and not be shy.”

As the class of 2021 solidifies their many different plans for next year and beyond, “I’m gonna miss how close of a community [La Salle has],” Rosumny said. “Everyone’s really close here.” 

Alexa Ramirez-Hernandez will be attending Western Oregon University where she is still deciding between studying business or pursuing a pre-med track. Regardless of what she studies, she sees herself finding ways to help others. 

“La Salle is very service oriented,” said Ramirez-Hernandez, and she wants to carry that focus on into college. “You can do so much with [a business or nursing education] — either work for a nonprofit, or create your own business to help people. There’s just so many ways you can… be able to help somewhere.”

Deciding to attend Western Oregon University was a “tough decision,” Ramirez-Hernandez said, “between leaving my family behind and my siblings and just starting the whole, I guess, career by myself… but you have to do what you have to do.”

Reflecting on her time at La Salle, she has learned that she has to “seize the moment and… reach out of my comfort zone,” she said.

With his eye on studying civil law in the future, Sawyer Paugh will be studying business and history at Purdue University’s Honors College in West Lafayette, Indiana. Paugh decided to pursue studies in business because “it’s a good safety net,” he said. “History, I just enjoy history a lot.”

For Paugh, choosing to go to Purdue was a little difficult. “Some part of me wanted to stay in state,” he said, “but at the same time, [the] quality of education as well as getting out of state and having a fresh start is kind of cool.”

La Salle’s “academic rigor,” Paugh said, “pushes you to succeed, [it] pushes you to kind of challenge yourself… It gave me the confidence that if I can do what I did [at La Salle], I’m sure I can do it at [Purdue] as well.”

As he moves on from La Salle, Paugh is going to miss “the community, the athletic teams, the teachers especially, [and] everything that involves everyone around me,” he said. “I’m definitely going to miss it.”