Many people in the workforce dread their jobs and think that making money is a chore for them. However, people who do what they love typically do not regard their job as work. If one has a career that they are passionate for, they will most likely find their job to be much more easy than an undesirable profession.

Many students in high school do not even know what they want to major in. Some may pursue jobs yielding a lot of money, while others invest in their passions. A class of 1972 graduate, Mary Russell, chose to live her dream career by running her very own horse care business.

Her career choice is based on her life long passion. She does what she loves while making a living, unlike many people in the workforce today.

“The reason behind my career choice is [that] I feel like it was what I am meant do. Ever since I was a small child I’ve always loved horses. I feel really bad for students and young adults who don’t have a passion for a certain career. It is really unfortunate to not know where to go in life,” Russell divulged.

The foundation of her career is her Central diploma. She believes she would not be where she is today if it was not for a high school education.

“Central helped me have a strong basic education for my career to stand on. I also developed some of my closest friendships while attending high school. Even though we’ve got into some fights over the years, we still support each other to this day,” Russell revealed.

The school’s current acceptance and promotion of diversity and equality is a stark contrast from its earlier years.

“Central’s idea on diversity was very close minded while I was in school. They were very sexist, and women were not treated as fairly as men. All of the other high schools had a women’s basketball team, yet Central was behind and only provided a men’s basketball team,” Russell said.

It has been a long time since Russell has graduated, so the school has undergone noticeable changes.

“When I was in school, all we used was pen and paper. Nowadays, young people have technology and computers to do their work. In the library we had to use the dewey decimal system to find our book, but now you can pull everything up on the internet. I especially didn’t know about the Central Digest website,” Russell explained.

Russell has high expectations for the school’s future, and bases her hopes for on modern issues in today’s world.

“What I want most for the future of Central is a safe environment for students to learn in. Children should not have to fear for their lives while going to school. Gun violence in schools are all over the news and it saddens me that children have to think about that. It is not fair the troubles that the new generation has to go through,” Russell concluded.