Choosing Career Path

Hon, you have a whole 2 years yet to figure things out. If you don't know what you're destined to do, (most don't when starting college) then start with gen ed. You can actually get an associate's degree in that. Chances are, by the time you hone in on an interest, you'll have knocked out a lot of prerequisites and can get right down to business of learning the fun stuff. But in the meantime, if your portfolio is a grade, just do the thing to get the grade. 🥰 Try not to stress yourself out and take a step back. Life has a funny way of happening how it happens while we make plans. You can plan everything to the most minuscule detail and it can all go down the drain because something else happens and it's not necessarily even a bad thing that happens. The reason I know this stuff is my daughter did dual credit high school her last year and went to nevada state. She took college classes to graduate high school and got credit for both. The high school had her doing things like portfolios and an outlined plan for college including the classes she would need to take in which order, etc. and the problem was that her 2 year plan for college somehow doesn't end with a degree, but rather a certificate, so she had to complete a college plan that was completely fictitious just to get the grades that was a huge requirement of graduating. 🤷‍♀️ Done and done. And who knows? Maybe taking a break from art will be just what you need to find your way back to it with fresh eyes. THIS I can relate to, having had a business made of my hobby. It no longer becomes an outlet, but something you now HAVE TO DO and now it's stressors rather than something to decompress with. I still do it, but now I do it when i want to. I make money on my creations, but without the pressure. You will find your middle ground when it's time. Hang in there, kiddo.

You have a lot of time to find out what interests you enough to see it as a career. It is perfectly normal to not know what you want to do as a career in your Junior year of high school. Many people won't even know after they've started college, or change their minds halfway through. You can start now to explore a variety of subjects to see what you have interest in. Whether that be taking online courses of different subjects or even looking at possible degree programs of the college you want to attend. In the past, I went the website of different colleges (just to get an idea) and looked at the program curriculums of different Degrees/Diplomas/Certificate, then, I'll look at the descriptions of the kind of courses that I would need to complete, just to see if anything catches my interest.

If the Art Portfolio is part of your studies now, something that must be completed for credits, just complete it with a light heart. Don't be too stressed about it. Things will fall into place, don't worry~

@zhengqw