Graduates prepare to enter world of colleges and careers

Another year has passed and a new legion of high school graduates are excited to enter the world of college and careers. After 13 years of school, these graduates will be finally free to make their own choices, mistakes and successes.

Here are some of their stories:

Roberto Mendoza

Roberto Mendoza has been attending Floyd since third grade and will be graduating in a class of 16 students. Mendoza participated in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, basketball, baseball and track in addition to working part time. Although he finds it stressful sometimes, Mendoza prefers being busy to staying in the house all day.

He plans on attending either Eastern New Mexico University or New Mexico Junior College to study criminal justice.

I like the idea of being a cop or a lawyer or FBI. It's just really interesting to me," said Mendoza.

Haley Powell will be graduating from Elida High School next week. She participated in volleyball, softball, FCCLA, National honors Society, and yearbook. Last year, Powell and her yearbook classmates won a silver medal from Walsworth for their design.

Haley Powell

Powell wants to pursue a degree in communicative disorders from ENMU. She said that she found speech language pathology and American Sign Language to be very interesting.

"I'm just excited to be out of school because I'm looking forward to new things and going to college and just trying all kinds of new stuff," said Powell.

Although Anthony Maloney lives in Portales, he commutes to Dora every day to attend school. He said that he chose to go to Dora High School because his father got a job as the head football coach and both grandmother and great-grandmother work in Dora.

After he graduates, Maloney plans to get into the nursing program at Clovis Community College and wants to one day be a nurse practitioner.

Maloney has dyslexia and is a spokesperson for the condition. Maloney said that he likes talking to people about how he overcame his reading disorder and that his grandmother was a very big help to him.

Anthony Maloney

"I get some modifications due to my IEP (individualized education plan) but my whole high school career is solely on me," said Maloney.