What's next for the Class of 2024 after graduation

Find out more about the Class of 2024.

For the past year, we’ve been looking at the world through the eyes of high schoolers.

The Class of 2024 began its high school years with the deadly, global pandemic closing schools and sending students online for virtual learning. They faced many challenges.

We’ve followed a select few through their senior year, asking about isolation, stress, navigating social media and applying to college.

Now, with high school behind them and the first year of college ahead, we’re catching up to see where life is taking them next.

An’Davantae Bussey: Football landed him a full scholarship

An’Davantae Bussey spent most of his childhood looking forward to high school. This year, he graduated from David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri.

“I'm just happy that I accomplished that goal because a lot of people in my family didn't,” Bussey says.

His mom got her high school diploma, and as a single mother, raised Bussey and his brother.

In high school, Bussey played basketball, football and played in the school band. It was football that got him a full-ride to Southwest Baptist University in the western part of the state.

He liked the coaches and the idea of attending a Christian college. But having his costs covered sealed the deal.

“My mom's been having to pay for two big kids. We're not little,” he said. “I'm 6’4’’, my brother's about 6’2’’. We’re big guys, and she’s had to feed us and pay for all the sports and do all that stuff. So paying for college was what I wanted her to least worry about.”

Saniyah Lovings: Passed on her dream school, for now

Out in Phoenix, Arizona, Saniyah Lovings had a tough call to make when the acceptance letter arrived. She got into her dream school, Howard University, the historically black school in Washington, D.C, but the offer wasn’t wasn’t enough to cover her costs.

“Howard was my big one. I wanted to go there so bad,” Lovings says. But financially it didn't, it didn't work out. They didn't offer enough.”

Instead, she will attend Arizona State University on a full ride, studying psychology.

“I live in Arizona, so in-state tuition for here is like $12,000. And they gave me $19,000 to spend,” Lovings says. “I was like, I can't beat that.”

Staying in-state and near home lets her continue her hair-styling business. But she still has eyes for Howard University, where she hopes to go for law school.

Leanne Nasser: First steps toward a career in medicine

At Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan, Leanne Nasser was president of her school’s National Honor Society and vice president of the Muslim Student Association.

Her dream is to attend medical school.

She applied to a couple of schools she was certain she’d get accepted to. She also applied to what she deemed a “reach school.” That “reach school” was Harvard University, and she got in.

Everyone around her told her to accept the offer to Harvard, that it would open doors for her in ways she couldn’t imagine. But she didn’t want to rack up student loan debt before getting into medical school.

She passed on Harvard and accepted an offer from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. It wasn’t an easy decision, but she won’t have to worry about paying for college

“In Islam we have this prayer which is called Istikhara, and basically you make this prayer whenever you're trying to come to, you're kind of stuck. You want to make a decision that's a big decision in your life,” she says. “So I prayed it, and it led me to [University of Michigan] because I know if I had chosen the other school, it would have been solely off of prestige.”

At the University of Michigan, she has a chance to get experience in the medical field as an undergrad. And after visiting the campus a few times, she’s looking forward to meeting new people

“Where I come from in Dearborn, we're kind of a big Arab and Muslim, population here. It's not the most diverse. So I hope … I'll get to meet a lot more people and see diverse perspectives and just envelop myself in a community like I've never really been in before,” Nasser says

Jimmy Merino: First-generation student heads to Harvard

Jimmy Merino of Chelsea, Massachusetts, will be a half-hour drive from home when classes start at Harvard. He’s a first-generation college student who describes himself as Latino-American. And if it wasn’t for his full scholarship, Harvard would have been out of reach.

“In the beginning of the year I came across a lot of hardships in terms of schools charging me full cost, when my family doesn't necessarily make half of what the tuition I was being charged for,” he says.

He says that having to attend school virtually through the middle of his sophomore years was a challenge. The issue wasn’t the impact on his grades, but more how it kept him from connecting with others in student groups.

By the time in-person school returned, he thrived. And he was elected class president his senior year.

Paige Rowell: Had plenty of colleges to choose from

Paige Rowell graduated from Westlake High School in South Fulton, Georgia. She applied to dozens of schools and was accepted to around 56 of them. After combing over the dozens of offers, she picked Kennesaw  State University, northwest of Atlanta.

“Honestly for me, it was about who could provide the most aid because I'm not the most financially well off student,” says Rowell. “But I also wanted to make sure I got a good education without putting myself in so much debt.”

She’s majoring in marketing and minoring in architecture. She’ll also pursue a real estate license while taking classes.

Alex Christopher: Taking a year off to get real world experience

Alex Christopher of Milford, New Hampshire, will take a gap year of sorts. He was accepted at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, to study restaurant business management. Then he got a job at his former high school, managing its student-run restaurant.

He’ll take the real-world experience, for now. It’ll be weird, Christopher says, to walk back on campus as a boss of kids he once hung out with.

“When I was sitting in the lobby of the school, waiting for my interview, one of my buddies was walking by and he's a sophomore and he's doing culinary two next year. He was like, ‘What are you doing here, dude?’ And I was like, ‘I'm here for an interview.” Christopher says. “And he was like, ‘Dude, that's going to be so fun. You're going to let me get away with so much stuff.’ And I was like, ‘I think I'm going to have to actually enforce rules.’”

He plans to work this year, save money and take his real-world lessons to the classroom in fall 2025.

Aarron Ton: Didn’t let the pandemic get him off track

Senior year of high school was a wild ride for Aaron Ton. At Mariner High School in Lynnwood, Washington, he was a busy athlete, on the swim team while also running track and cross country. He also played in the school orchestra. On top of that he was taking college-level classes.

It was a lot, and he didn’t know if he could pull it off. He did, and now heads to the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

Looking back on high school, and the pandemic, he has mixed emotions.

“If I go back and try to remember it, I realize that it was a mix of struggle and effort,” Ton says. “Just a weird set of circumstances to put a high schooler in, especially one that's entering their first year. I think the uniqueness of that experience really makes me feel proud of where I'm at right now, because I know that it threw a lot of people off the rails, and some of them just haven't recovered from it.”

That may take time, and that’s okay. Everybody’s journey is different.

And our Class of 2024 has advice for the incoming Class of 2025: Plan ahead with your college applications. And most importantly, have fun during your senior year. Soon enough you will have to start moving through the world as an adult.