Some students know what they want to do as a career from an early age. Others go into college undecided and find a passion there. Still others find their passions earlier on, in high school. Seniors Kaia Minter, Nathan Anderson and Kate Schau all chose their paths of study and eventual careers because of experiences with various faculty, either after taking their classes, being involved in extracurricular activities or shadowing them.

Kaia Minter

Before taking a class with Drama teacher Jon Copeland, Minter knew she wanted to be a teacher, but didn’t quite know what she wanted to teach. Copeland changed that, though, as Minter’s Drama class and future interactions with him through school productions made her decide to study education at the University of Kansas with eventual hopes of becoming a high school drama teacher.

“I realized a really long time ago that I wanted to be a teacher, but I never knew what subject I wanted to teach,” Minter said. “Seeing Mr. Copeland and all the fun he had with all the students just kind of made me want to choose drama.”

While Minter started off playing smaller parts in school shows, like ensemble roles in “A Christmas Carol” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” she learned more about theater and became more interested in it as she gained larger roles, such as General Cartwright in “Guys and Dolls” and Madame Pavlenko in “A Night In the Ukraine” as part of the Triple One-Act-Stravaganza. Copeland has noticed Minter’s growth as she acquired larger roles.

“I’ve seen Kaia just really be dedicated and come to all the rehearsals and just know her stuff and be on top of it and therefore, because she’s handled the responsibility well, her parts have grown,” Copeland said. “It’s great to see her hard work pay off and to see her be more featured in her senior year.”

What Minter admires most about Copeland is his positive attitude.

“He’s just always happy,” Minter said. “He always seems like he’s having a good time … He’s just such a smiley person.”

 Nathan Anderson

Through shadowing athletic trainer Clint McCalister by completing various tasks, Anderson has not only grown a strong bond with McCalister, but has also been inspired to dedicate his future studies to athletic training.

Anderson has been accepted into a rare program for students majoring in athletic training at K-State, one of the top 20 universities for this major in the U.S. Anderson’s long-term goal is to be an athletic trainer for the St. Louis Cardinals, and he credits this dream to McCalister.

“He’s inspired me by being really really good at what he does … [Our relationship is] pretty laid back,” Anderson said. “It’s got some professionalism but we joke around a lot.”

Anderson helps McCalister in various ways such as by stocking drawers, making and distributing ice bags and wrapping up athletes’ injuries. McCalister said he is proud of Anderson’s effort.

“He’s a sharp kid and he shows genuine interest in what I’m doing,” McCalister said. “He really takes initiative … It’s tough when you lose really good help like that.”

 Kate Schau

Very few seniors spend more time in the band room than Schau, who is in blue, silver and jazz band and also has a Music Theory Independent Study with band director Deb Steiner. Steiner’s influence as a teacher prompted Schau to decide to study music therapy at KU next year. Although Schau’s initial interest came from a Music Theory student teacher her sophomore year, having Steiner as a teacher increased her self-assurance in her music.

“Just being able to actually help people with something I love was something really interesting to me,” Schau said. “Steiner’s constant encouragement has made me confident enough as a musician to pursue the thing that I love to do.”

In addition to playing euphonium and, more recently, trombone and baritone saxophone, in blue band, jazz band and silver band, respectively, Schau also took Music Theory, AP Music Theory and a Music Theory Independent Study with Steiner to further her knowledge of music.

“She is an intellect, so it has been challenging for me in [Music] Theory with her because she asks great questions,” Steiner said. “For me it’s been great because I get to have a little bit more detailed conversation with her about the theory side of music than I do with the regular band.”

Schau looks forward to studying something she’s interested in the future because of Steiner’s influence.

“Going to school for music just sounds so exciting to me,” Schau said. “I can’t wait to get better as a musician personally.”