A question looms in the mind of every high school student.

In their freshman year, it sits off to the side, building disquiet. Students might choose to avoid it as long as they can. The need to answer seems distant.

As time moves on and classes blur into an eidetic rush of PowerPoint presentations, final exams, and belabored lectures, this question pops up more and more: at family gatherings, in conversations with classmates and teachers. But students push it back further, focused on making the most of every school day.

Graduating high school is a monumental accomplishment, hard-won for some in spite of obstacles like poverty and housing insecurity. As such, senior year can feel like little more than a victory lap, which makes it an effective trap until graduation. Then the question must finally be answered.

“What are you going to do after high school?”

Developing an answer to this isn’t easy. It carries immense pressure, often interlaced with personal insecurities, familial responsibilities, and cultural expectations. For most, it’s not as simple as taking a career quiz.

Trusted individuals like parents or mentors may urge students to follow their interests. Yet for those without access to career exploration opportunities, there is a nonzero chance that students may overlook a great job simply because they never knew about it.

To address this, the LaunchNW team brainstormed an event for students: the Senior Summit. We specifically chose to invite students from rural schools who, generally speaking, pursue post-high school education less than other students due to this lack of career exposure.

Ultimately, our hope was that the Senior Summit would equip students to develop an answer to “What are you going to do after high school?”

But more than that, we wanted it to inspire students towards careers uniquely grounded in their values and interests. Only in this way could we truly help them walk their best journey from birth to career attainment.

With its goal cemented, the Senior Summit’s planning began in earnest. Briget Duncan of the LaunchNW team deserves the lion’s share of credit, coordinating with various people and organizations to make the Summit the best it could be.

“The idea for the Senior Summit came from our FAFSA Program Manager Briget Duncan,” said Jennifer Offereins, Associate Director at LaunchNW.

“She wanted to approach FAFSA completion in a way that would inspire students, instead of only seeing it as a required form they need to fill out. This idea, combined with the need within our community to celebrate and support high school seniors, led to the Summit.”

Exciting news came in the form of our sponsor for the event: STCU, a not-for-profit, member-owned cooperative helping members serve the community since 1934. Their support of the Senior Summit helped make it a reality.

But equally exciting was the event’s featured speaker, Jamar Root.

Jamar Root is a motivational speaker with a growing career, particularly aimed at younger people struggling to find their purpose after high school. Root’s story is incredible, one of resilience and drive. As a cancer survivor and talented academic, Root’s experiences provide him with compelling insight into what it means to live with purpose.

The Senior Summit was taking shape. Jamar Root’s motivational talk would inspire, while various workshops would expose students to information about career opportunities like trade school, university, and professional certifications.

The list of workshops developed quickly: STCU would host a ‘Digital Citizenship’ workshop for students to understand how social media can be used to create a personal brand; Eric Rosentrater, with 28 years of experience and connections in the utility industry, would head his workshop, ‘Introduction to the Trades.’

Whitworth University would put on ‘Financial Aid 101’, while Gonzaga University would lead a workshop equipping students to elevate their college essay.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jacob King would provide ‘Resiliency: Overcoming Obstacles,’ and LaunchNW’s own Matt Bumpus would host a College Student Panel for high school students to learn more about the realities of college life and tips to prepare for it.

With all the pieces in place, the Senior Summit kicked off on October 15.

The Spokane Convention Center sits squarely on the border of downtown Spokane, overlooking Riverfront Park to the north and a vibrant collection of businesses, including breweries, hotels, and antique stores, to the south.

The Summit was spread across two floors of this Convention Center. The upper floor featured our workshops, each situated in its own room. The ground level floor contained three main areas:

-a large entry hallway lined with vendors and partners;

-a massive gathering room dotted with tables and seats for attendees, all centered around a raised platform for a speaker;

-and finally, an adjacent room filled with tables for many universities and their distinct programs.

Accompanying the packed venue, we provided catering for lunch and exclusive Senior Summit drawstring knapsacks packed with snacks and a personalized note from LaunchNW Executive Director Ben Small.

He then introduced Tracy McGlathery, Vice President and Director of Community Impact of the event’s sponsor, STCU.

“We think [education] opens doors,” remarked McGlathery. “We think it gives you the ability to thrive, and we do everything we can at STCU to help lift up our schools. As you’re here today in your community, observe. Take a step back. Get curious. It’s when you can find those things that spark ideas, ignite passions—that’s what you want to hold onto.”

Finally, Jamar Root stepped onto the stage.

“I came all the way from Dallas, Texas to be with y’all today,” Root exclaimed. “We’re gonna have fun, I’m gonna give y’all some game on what I’ve learned, what I was feeling when I was y’all’s age.”

Root walked with purpose across the stage to face students all around the room.

“The first thing I want to ask you—just raise your hand if the answer is yes—raise your hand if you’re tired of people asking you, ‘What do you want to do?’”

Multiple hands rose at nearly every table. “Oh, my goodness,” Root said.

The students listened like pendulums, moving from smiles to contemplation along with Root as he spoke about his journey as a college student, cancer survivor, and public speaker. His overall message was one that many would find helpful, even as adults: you might not have it figured out yet, and you’re going to make mistakes as you do.

Afterwards, everyone broke off into their workshops. I had the pleasure of sitting in on one as a member of the College Student Panel. Our audience of high school students had several questions about living on campus, getting involved in college life, and navigating financial aid and college applications. With a panel of students and graduates from universities of different sizes, we provided a healthily varied perspective in our answers.

Seeing so many young minds preparing for their next big step and being engaged in their futures was refreshing. But before we knew it, the Senior Summit was over. As school buses arrived at the Convention Center, the seniors posed for last-minute pictures and snagged their knapsacks before boarding the buses to leave.

Was the Senior Summit a success? Student attendees seemed to think so.

One superintendent shared their student’s feedback that the Summit was one of their favorite events they’d ever done in high school.

Another student, Isaiah, reached out to Jamar Root and thanked him for speaking. “[I] Just wanted to let you know how much your words and thoughts meant to me, and how well they were received,” he said.

The Senior Summit showed LaunchNW at our best, trying something new and putting our best foot forward to support students with fresh ideas.

“[It] provided students with information and connections that they may not have been exposed to otherwise,” Jennifer Offereins said. “They saw first-hand a variety of possibilities for themselves after high school graduation.  It proved how much this is needed for our students, to help them understand the multiple opportunities that are out there for them, and how they can travel the path they are most passionate about.”

“The Senior Summit was a great way for students from across our region to connect with one another,” said Ben Small. “I think it is important for our youth to understand that there are a whole lot of people who are just like them, with the same questions and uncertainty.”

I know that we’ll continue to revise and expand upon the Senior Summit and events like it in the future. LaunchNW’s work is never done. But after seeing the raw excitement and energy of our students at the Summit, I think it’s worth celebrating here at the peak for a while, before heading onwards to new mountains.

Samuel McLaughlin is a Marketing and Communications Program Associate at LaunchNW.