Call them the “eye-on-the-prize” class of 2009: confident, accomplished and as practical as rubber boots in a rainstorm.
There's Tyvon Greene, hopping the stage in blue cap and gown for his honours diploma at Lisgar Collegiate's graduation ceremony, who is headed for kinesiology at Queen's University because he thinks it wil lead to better job opprtunities. He dreams of working for a professional sports team, with the perk that he can be home with family during off-season.
And Sarah Nur, near the back of a sea of classmates in the muggy school gym, planning to study science. Her parents came to Canada from Somalia, and she's not going to waste her time – and theirs – on a university degree without prospects.
In the front row, clapping politely, is Celia Byrne, destined for engineering, who points out that in a school with five full calculus classes, her history teacher had only 13 students. She loved European history, but there's no chance she's delaying university to travel the continent like her father did.
If the recession strikes them as an adult problem – they say they don't worry much about it – the life choices of their parent's workaholic, time-crunched generation haven't escaped them.
These Ottawa teenagers, among the brightest graduates in the country, are clear about their priorities: jobs with good salaries, creative opportunities, and, high on the list, a healthy family life. (Imagine a 17-year-old guy, even 10 years ago, offering up “time with the kids” as job criteria.) There's no risking that future on an art history degree, for most of this graduating class. Lisgar has a reputation for churning out high achievers. “The geek threshold is a lot higher here,” explained Chris Cooper, the class valedictorian. And they know where the jobs are. At yesterday's graduation ceremony, the number of university-bound graduates said to be pursuing science or engineering degrees outnumbered prospective arts students about 3 to 1, with business ranking third, and not counting the one student making his own practical choice to become an electrician.
Stargazers, they are not, as a sample of their class explained on the eve of graduation. They can't afford the time.
“Students these days are much more driven, and to a certain extent, much less idealistic than our parents were,” said Ms. Byrne, 18, an honours student, director of the school play and captain of the Reach for the Top Team, leaning against a second-floor locker at Lisgar, between hunting for a summer job. She has applied for a dozen jobs so far, including “turtle dancer” with an aboriginal acting troupe. “Who else but desperate me is going to apply for a job at a dry cleaner's in the summer?” she said of her latest rejection. “Apparently, a lot of people.”
They're just being strategic, said Tyvon Greene, 17, also an honours students and athlete, who reconsidered social science because “I kind of figured what can I really do with that?” But doctor and nurses are in short supply, and his classmates, he said, know that medical school means “a job waiting for them where they can make money.”
“You don't want to waste time and end up in a position where you don't know what the next step is,” said yearbook editor Ms. Nur, 18, sitting by the Rideau Canal before heading to work at Tommy Hilfiger.
As the first generation to text and Facebook with abandon, they also know how fast life changes.
“My parents, when they were graduating, could picture a job, and have a pretty good idea of what they were doing,” said Mr. Cooper, 18. Look back five years, and “there are things you can study now that you did not even think about.”
And a useful degree, after all, makes it more likely you can be choosy about the job you get.
