Makenzi Mclane

 I dual enrolled my junior year of high school and worked full time as well. I always
felt pressured by the world to go into a field that was "always
needed" and work a 9-5 job or something medical field related, to be
successful. I graduated high school in 2020 during the pandemic cutting my
senior year short and not getting the graduation, prom, or senior year that any
hard-working student deserves. I never wanted to go to a 4-year college so I
kind of just went to my local community college and tried to finish my
Associate's degree that I started when I was dual enrolling. I quickly realized
that I didn't have much time to decide what I wanted to do but knew my dad was successful,
so I followed in his footsteps and the medical field it was. I didn't want to
go to school for very long so “doctor” was out of the question and everything
else sounded like it would bore me, so I looked into Emergency Medical
Technology hoping to someday be a paramedic. After receiving my Certification,
I thought to myself what in the world am I doing, I can't do this, it wasn't
truly my passion. I just wanted to help people, but the intensity of seeing
humanity at its worst is just not for everyone. I was going to go back to
school to be an ultrasound technician; I did all my prerequisites and realized
that I'd be in school for another 2 1/2 years, and that was not the life I
wanted for myself. I remember vividly, sitting at my dining room table after
talking to my dad about everything else I would have to do to complete
schooling… I was miserable scrolling through Instagram, jealous of the life the
hairstylists I've never even met before had, and said out loud "I wish I
was a hairdresser, that would be my dream". My father put his phone down,
looked at me, and told me if that was what I truly wanted to do then he would
help me. That day we looked for schools in the area and that same week we
toured Aveda. I signed up for classes that started a month later and here we
are now, living the dream!