Ava Pandorf is the oldest of three children of Steve and Rhonda Pandorf of Callaway. She is also one of 13 students who will be walking across the stage on Sunday to receive their diploma from Callaway High School, and begin the next chapter in their life journey.

For Ava, the journey will take her to the University of Nebraska at Kearney next fall, where she plans to major in business. She is considering minoring in interior design, event planning, marketing or hospitality management. She also realizes she has the next four years of school to figure out exactly what she wants to do.

“The characteristics that led me to choose UNK are the location of the school, the size of the campus, and its close distance to home,” said Ava.

She will live in a dorm on campus, but does not know yet who her roommate will be. While attending UNK, Ava plans to join a sorority and various clubs, as well as participate in intramurals and try to find a job on campus.

“Some of the careers I would be qualified for with a business degree would be human resources, business administration, financial examiner, real estate agent or event manager,” Ava shared. “And most of those jobs can be done either locally or in larger cities.”

Like her classmates, Ava used the strengths that were identified for her in the Strengths Finder to help determine her area of study. Those include responsibility, development and a futuristic mindset. She said she also really enjoyed Mrs. Popp’s interior design class.

“While attending Callaway Public Schools I have learned how to manage my time well while being involved in numerous activities,” Ava explained. “The upper level classes that CPS provides have also prepared me well.”

Ava said her goal is to bring her education and skills back to the Callaway area in a few years.

During her senior year she has been helping Mrs. Sallach and her fifth grade students with math every day. “I chose to do this because I had a free period and I like being around kids,” Ava said.

She feels like that experience has provided her with three transferable skills: patience, communication and problem solving. “I have considered a career in that field, but as of now I have chosen something different,” she added. As for her final piece of advice to her underclassmen, Ava shared, “Take things with a grain of salt and make the most out of high school, because it goes by fast.”