Caden Duda, sophomore
High school is about learning who you are, what you want to be, and what you want to do later in life. Caden Duda is a sophomore who never quite knew what college he wanted to go to, what he wanted to be, or what job he wanted in adulthood, so he decided to try and do a little bit of everything, as long as he enjoyed it. Duda currently expresses interest in art, business marketing, video games, and animation.
“When I was little I wanted to become a paleontologist and I thought it would be a lot of fun,” said Duda.
As he got older he realized how dull the job could be and started looking for more things that he enjoyed, like art.
“I started art a long while back, probably when everyone else started to draw in elementary school, and I guess it just kind of stuck with me,” Duda said. “Later I was curious about sports, and since my dad was a soccer coach, I decided to give soccer a try. I played for around 3 to 4 years before taking a break.”
While Duda hasn’t gotten back into soccer yet, his sibling has recently started to play. When Duda got to Watauga High School he was enamored with the variety of classes that were offered and available to students of all years.
“[During] my freshman year, I didn’t do too many things apart from a few art classes, and it was around that time when I started thinking about what I wanted to do after high school,” said Duda. “I wanted to try a ton of stuff to see what kinds of jobs I might like or what I might be good at, so this year, I decided to take animation, digital art classes, and marketing classes among other classes.”
In later years, he wants to expand his knowledge on other topics so he can be prepared for the future, no matter what it may be. He isn’t quite sure what college he wishes to go to, but because of the classes he took this year he was inspired to go look at business colleges or tech-related colleges. He also said he might not go directly to college but instead try to make a living off of playing video games, which is becoming a more popular career in this generation.
“I knew about video games when I was 5 or 6, but I never really felt like playing them until I was like 7,” said Duda. “I was really into dinosaurs and Legos back then and didn't really want to do anything else. I mainly played Wii Sports and Minecraft, and I was pretty proud of my skills.”
Even now, Duda still plays Minecraft, just like a lot of other kids his age. He started branching out to more competitive games like Rocket League and Overwatch, as well as some other fast-paced games like Warframe. He’s been doing a lot of different things, at different times, at different paces throughout the week, which can be a hassle at times.
“It's been really hard to balance all the things I've been doing, even if I don't belong to a club,” said Duda. “Things can start to pile up and get overwhelming, [since I’m] having to switch to multiple gears throughout the day. I’ve been able to deal with it all due to planning out what I'm doing throughout the day and not procrastinating.”
Stress and anxiety can be a big problem in high school, but Duda said that getting a lot of rest, enough exercise, and taking resting days every now and then helped him with stepping out of his comfort zone and managing his stress. His parents often encouraged him and told him to follow his dreams and heart, so he wants to succeed in life to make his parents proud and repay them.
“I’ll never know what will happen in the future and where I might succeed or fail, but I will still try my best to find a job that I will enjoy and somehow repay all that my parents have done for me,” said Duda.
His parents, just like a lot of others, want the best for their children, and want to prepare them for adulthood, but balancing giving their children advice and sounding controlling can be hard for some parents. Duda’s parents just wanted him to find out what he wanted to do and be happy with it no matter what it would be, and Duda was grateful to them for not pressuring him into doing a certain job or profession. He said he is perfectly content with his life in the world and wouldn’t want to change anything in the present nor the past.
“The world is constantly changing around us, and we are also changing with it, learning to like things, learning to hate things, and learning what interests us,” Duda said. “The future is never set in stone and we might come to regret some of the classes we took in the past. We could come to a fork in our road, or a dead end and not know which way to go, or how to go back. So prepare yourself for everything just in case. Don’t be scared of trying new things or going out of your comfort zone, because after all, you have a 100% chance of failing at something you never try.”
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