At Matthews elementary school, 18 students under the direction of Peyton McCollum discussed their hopes for their future careers. When humans are young, their minds are always blossoming with wild ideas, hopes and dreams. And while these ideas change and mature with age, what they come up with is still very charming.

A: “I’m drawing a magician. Because I want to [do] magic tricks,” Grant Davis said.

A: “I want to be a baker,” Addalynn Gibson said.

A: “This is a cop, and now I’m coloring his doughnut,” Capri Humphrey said.

“Because I get to capture people when they steal stuff and eat doughnuts.”

A: “I want to be a puppy doctor,” said Everlee Curbow. “Cause I love animals.”

A: “A doctor,” said Conner King. He wants to be a doctor after he took a visit once.

A: “The best fortnite player in the world,” said Easton Liss. 

A: “I want to be an astronaut so that I could go on the moon with my friend Jenny,” Adalie Inman said.  “When I first met her, I told her that I’m going to the moon and she said she was going to the moon too.”

A: “A police officer,” said Archer Hendrian. “Because then I get to catch bad guys and I never [get] to.” 

A: Rosalie Ramirez said she wants to be a teacher because she likes kids and likes teaching them.

A: “I want to be a queen,” Blakelynn Fletcher said. “I just want to be rich and I just want to own a castle and a King.”

A: “A firefighter,” Owen Keeney said. “Because I want to put out fires.” 

 I grew up

At the other end of the spectrum of dreams are the Nixa Highschool seniors who are figuring out what they want to do as they near adulthood and attempting to find a job that will be a full time career. As people grow up, they find different pathways and desires for themselves in their world. The seniors have changed their paths from their years of growing up and set their sights on elsewhere. Can the seniors live up to their former dreams with a whole new perspective? 

A: “I wanted to be an alligator when I was little. [Now] I’m going into physical therapy,” Noah Lind said. “I think it’s an upgrade from an alligator.”

A: “A police officer,” Anthony Duden said. “[But now] I’m majoring in psychology … I think when I was little I didn’t even know what psychology was.” 

A: “I wanted to be a vet or go into the army because my dad went to West Point.” Emma Floer said. “I’m going into biomedical science in environmental sciences and then I’m hoping to do Missouri State’s pre-optometry program … [Little Floer] was definitely all over the place, so I think now that I have it figured out after so many years she’d be like, ‘yeah.’” 

A: “When I was little I wanted to be a vet, like an animal vet,”Jordan McCarthy said. “I am going into college for ultrasound tech … I think I could go into animals with ultrasound tech, but I don’t know. I just always loved animals.” 

A: “I wanted to be in the [National Basketball Association] when I was little,” Ryan Davis said. “Now I’m going into mechanical engineering and [now], I’m going to be joining the race team as well … I think my younger self would be a bit annoyed that it’s not a sport, but race cars are still cool. I think I’d be happy to be making the cars. 

A: “When I was younger, I wanted to do computer stuff like my dad did. I think I wanted to maybe do programming,” said Beckett Malin. “I’m doing kinesiology now … I don’t think so, I wasn’t really big into exercise when I was a kid.” 

A: “When I was little I wanted to be a bouncy house worker,”Shelby Hicks said. “[I am doing] radiology, or ultrasound … I think so. I’m currently in a GO CAPS program, so I already do ultrasound.” 

A: “I actually [wanted to be] an orthopedic surgeon,” Anna Steel said . “[Currently,] nursing. BSN … I think so. I feel close to the same medical field basically.”

A: “I wanted to be like a film director or a filmmaker,” Nikki Winburn said. “[Now] a high school math teacher … I think I liked both things. I just kind of realized that one would be easier than the other.”

A: “Whenever I was little I wanted to be a vet,” said AJ Young. “I’m going into college for zoology… I just feel like I’ve always loved animals and honestly most living things and it’s just, cool.”

A: “An astronaut,” said Landon Kepley. “I’m going to Missouri S&T to be an electrical engineer.”

A: “I wanted to be a comic artist, I wanted to be an  animator, I wanted to be a writer, apparently I wanted to be a ballet teacher. I wanted to work in a zoo,” said Jayne Dunkmann. “I want to try to get into an art program, I’m still looking at animation, but I’m definitely trying to do that.”

A: “I wanted to be a veterinarian,” said Rebecca Cook. “I’m going to be going into chemical engineering.”

A: “[I wanted to be] a model,” said Ella Coulter. “[Now it’s] pediatric occupational therapy.”

A: “I wanted to be a veterinarian or a firefighter when I was younger,” said Kylee Garland. “I’m going into college for digital animation … I don’t think little kid me even knew it was a possibility.”

A: “Any type of person who worked with animals. Mostly a vet or a wildlife biologist,” said Lila Tubman. “Either an [American Sign Language] interpreter or also digital animation … I used to have ASL books and stuff like that so I knew it was a thing. I didn’t know it was a job though. But with digital animation, I’ve always loved that type  of stuff.”

“When I was little, I wanted to be a paleontologist, which is a person that digs up dinosaur bones,” said Masyn Gause. “Now, I’m going to college for welding … Probably not, because he really wanted to dig up dinosaur bones.”

A: “I didn’t have a specific job in mind, but I always knew I wanted to work with cars and trucks,” said Brayden Anderson. “[Now I’m going into] mechanical engineering, because it involves working with engines … I think he would share as many similarities between the two interests. I mean, there’s more pay and opportunity, but I get to work with the things I like doing, which is mechanical.”