Keith-Aaron Fogel is on track to achieve his dream.
The graduating John Jay Senior High School senior is preparing to head to boot camp in July, followed byadvanced individual training. Last year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army as aninfantryman with a Ranger Battalion contract, in hopes of joining theelitespecial operations force.
The plan has been a long time coming. Fogel, an 18-year-old Hopewell Junction resident, first got the idea to join the Army Rangersafter watching a documentary in fifth-grade. By the time he was a sophom*ore, he had a training regime and was a regular visitor at his local recruiting station.
"I'm not even nervous," said Fogel, of his upcoming departure. "I'm just ready to go."
Fogel is one of the thousands of students in 16 local Dutchess and Ulster districts to graduatehigh school this year.
His post-high school plansare somewhat unique.
Of the estimated 3,600 local students who finished at a public high school in 2017, only 2 percent enlisted inthe military,according to a Journal analysis ofstate and local data.
Most local students— 85 percent— went to college. Another 6 percent went to the workforce, and 2 percent went to trade, vocational or technical schools. Plans were unknown for 3 percent of graduates.
The majority of local graduates — nearly half in 2017—chose a four-year-school after graduation. About 38 percentattended a two-year-college.
The overall numberofstudents that go to college, trade school, the military oremployment after graduating high school has been fairly consistent year-after-year.
But disparities remain between local school districts, and some have seen rates fluctuate over the years.
Districts across New York report post-secondary (after high school) plans for their students to the state Education Department every year.
The reported percentage of college-going graduates ranged from 70 percent in the Poughkeepsie and Webutuck districts to 95 percent in the Rhinebeck and Spackenkill districts last year.
It's unclear if Poughkeepsie's percentage is accurate; post-graduate plans were reportedly "unknown" formore than 20 percent of graduating seniors, much higher than any other local district.
Rhinebeck also hadthe lowestlocal rate (21 percent)of economically disadvantaged students in 2017, whilePoughkeepsie and Webutuck had the highest rates: 81 percent and 64 percent, respectively.
Spackenkill saw the largest year-over-year increase in the percentage of students who decided to attend a four-year-school. Last year, 68 percent of teens planned to attend such a school; in 2016, it was 57 percent.
"Our teachers are known to hold our students to rigorous standards, both academically and behaviorally," said Spackenkill High SchoolPrincipalSteven Malkischer. "Our ambition... is to provide our students with the guidance, support and skills necessary to be successful in what they want to pursue.
"We offer a large variety of advanced placement courses, especially for a school our size," and other options to help students, such as concurrent classes with Dutchess Community College,Malkischer added.
The community college is also a popular option for Dutchess County teens.
Overall,one-third of college-bound public high school graduates in the Dutchess County's 13 districts attend the community college.
For Autumn Lennon, the decision to go to college was an easy one.
It was something she always knew she would do, said Lennon,a member of Beacon High School's class of 2018.
"My entire academic career has focused on getting me ready for the next step...which will ultimately allow me to get a good job and live a good life," said Lennon, 18.
Picking a school and major were tougher choices. She decided on Clarkson University in Potsdam.
But first, she's off for a month-longsummer research program, offered by her new college's honors program.
"It will be a great opportunity to get to know the students and faculty along with the campus in a more relaxed setting," Lennon said.
Lennon plans to major in civil engineering.
"I had a really difficult time trying to figure out what it was I wanted to major in," Lennon said. "My mom and my aunt kept suggesting engineering and at first I completely blew it off,but then I took another look..."
Participating in a mentor program, where Lennon met people in the field and learned about the job, sealed the deal.
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LOURDES: Private schoolgraduates 168
FIREFIGHTERS: Dutchess volunteer firefighters graduate from training
Nina Schutzman: nschutzman@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-451-4518, Twitter: @pojonschutzman
