9th Grade Sounds off on Pathway Choices
January 16, 2025 2025-11-16 0:289th Grade Sounds off on Pathway Choices
by: Arshia Rampuria
Last week, IA’s 9th grade class declared their pathways, joining one of our school’s most important traditions. We asked a series of 9th graders to tell us about their pathway selection, from their choice, their interests, and their decisions for the future. Here are their responses.
We will start off with Apurva S. K., a freshman going into Information Technology as her major.
Why did you choose Information Technology as your pathway?
I felt that IT had the most opportunities. You could go to college for only four years but still get a good salary unlike healthcare, which requires you to go to college for more than a decade, even though they often provide extremely high salaries. I didn’t want to sacrifice my 20s and half of my 30s to get a high-paying job. As for engineering, I just wasn’t interested in the subject.
You talk about how you chose IT because you didn’t want to go into healthcare and engineering as much. What parts of IT interest you the most?
AI and Game Design are the courses that interest me the most, but mainly AI. It is still developing throughout the world, and it is a really exciting subject. It has many opportunities within itself and expands the limits of what is possible.
Do you plan on taking the AI Course IA is offering next year?
I really want to, but seats are limited. I have started my application though, and I’m hoping to get selected. I want to explore the pathway because my knowledge right now is limited, but understanding how to code AI is something I want to understand next year.
Let’s move on to Samanvi S., a freshman who chose healthcare as her major and IT as her minor.
What went into your decision-making to choose your pathway?
From GT Block, I got the idea that I really don’t like engineering. On the other hand, I realized that healthcare is more fun for me. It has several social and interactive aspects, and I generally like the vibes around healthcare at IA; It’s a fun environment. The little coding we did in GT Block was interesting as well, but I did not have the same appeal to go to Flex Fridays for IT as I did for healthcare. That’s the key reason behind my decision.
Are there any specific parts of Healthcare that appeal to you?
Both anatomical and biological aspects of healthcare are the most appealing to me right now. I understand a lot of biology in the units being taught right now, while it is a class I need to put more effort into. This being said, I truly enjoy learning the subject and see myself working in a field relating to it.
When we learn about healthcare in GT Block, we learn more than the requirements as well. We notably had a game on learning various information on the anatomy of the human body, and I find it very interesting.
As for career-wise, I am not completely sure where I see myself going, but I do have clarity that I would like to learn and apply healthcare more research orientedly. With that in mind, I see myself doing essentials to biotech next year.
What are you looking forward to in the future?
As for IT, I am excited about taking AP CSP, as I will learn how to code in depth. It has proven to be interesting, from the ways we have designed websites in HTML, and coded features of a website using blocks.
I really want to be competitive in HOSA next year, having gotten more clarity over the healthcare pathway. Even as a sophomore, I think I’m relatively decent for it and would enjoy the experience.
Lastly, here we are with Michael V., who decided to major in engineering and minor in healthcare.
What made you choose your pathway?
I took an engineering class last year: Foundations of Engineering/Tech. Though it is a part of GT Block, they were taught vastly different last year. That class taught me the fundamentals of woodworking, creating different structures, interviewing, and essay writing. Retaking it this year in a different environment with different projects and learning about healthcare in terms of anatomy and physiology secured my decision to major and minor in both of them.
Why did you choose engineering as your major?
I’ve been inclined to making things my entire life, but I also really liked anatomy and physiology, so I picked both for my pathways. The main reason I chose engineering as my major because of the Flex Fridays: launching a rocket, or creating something physical seemed more fun than healthcare-based Fridays.
What are you inclined to learn about in engineering?
The SolidWorks experience and the design elements are what I most want to learn out of the engineering classes here. My goal is to be able to fuse elements of both engineering and human anatomy to inspire my design and make an impact medically.
We look forward to seeing how they progress within their respective pathways!
