Josh Roman, the CEO of OpenAI, described it as pivotal to his future.
“High school offers a special place where you can have different experiences. These experiences help shape your identity and dreams,” he said in a College Journey blog. “During this time, you start to face the real world. You make choices that affect your future in school and work.”
The American Psychological Association Dictionary of Psychology defines self-discovery as “the process of gaining insight into one’s own character, values, motivations, and desires in order to better understand who one is.”
Both of those quotes highlight the importance that high school can have on “finding yourself.” And yet, many high school students struggle with that concept or even how to define it.
Leaning into discovery
Roughiatou Diallo is a junior at Columbus Alternative High School who knows that struggle.
“During my freshman year, I felt lost coming into a new place where everyone was academically strong and was involved in so many extracurricular activities that I felt I was falling behind, more like calling myself ‘stupid,’” she said.
To help, she took part in several activities to keep herself engaged and learn where she belonged. Now she’s found her passion in the field of medicine and goes to a career center at Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School.
Aatika Ahmed is an Alternative High School junior on the same journey.
“Being surrounded by people who bring out the best in you and discovering parts of yourself through friendships and family,” she said.
She credits her friendship with fellow junior Jackie Lazaro as one of the highlights of her high school experience. The pair met in a humanities class and have been inseparable ever since.
And Lazro feels the same way. Though she adds that her overall journey has been a bit different from Ahmed’s. She told the CCS Voice that she is still working to define what “finding yourself” means. But added that creating art is one way she is working to do that.
She said that leaning on her Christian faith to help her through a difficult time earlier in her life, has helped to shape the person she is becoming.
A front row seat to discovery
As students navigate the process of finding themselves, their teachers and staff often have a front row seat to their journeys.
Brenna Holmes is an Alternative High School staff member. She defined “finding yourself” as being true to your values and understanding what brings you joy. But admitted that this is not an easy question to answer, even for adults. She went on to say that identity is something people continue to figure out over time–like “stepping stones across a river.”
Holmes also explained that students often change a lot from freshman year to senior year because they begin to realize that “the here and now matters.”
Columbus Alternative High School Career and Community Resource Coordinator Samantha Smith described high school as a very formative time when students begin moving from a middle school mindset into young adulthood.
She noted that students gradually become more invested in the things that bring them joy. But she also pointed out that social media can make self-discovery harder by causing students to compare themselves to unrealistic versions of other people’s lives.
From her perspective, “finding yourself” is not only about looking inward, but also about having opportunities that open new doors.
After listening to all of these voices, “finding yourself” in high school seemingly means growing through experience, even when you are still unsure of who you are. It can mean learning discipline, finding your people, expressing yourself through art, leaning on faith, making mistakes, or discovering strengths you did not know you had.
No two students interviewed by CCS Voices defined it the same way, and that may be the most important point of all.
“Finding yourself” is not a final destination that every teenager reaches on schedule. It is a process, and high school is one of the first places where that process becomes real.
Rigden Tobden is a student at Columbus Alternative High School. This piece was written for Columbus Journalists in Training, a program sponsored by the Columbus Dispatch and Society of Professional Journalists Central Ohio Pro-Chapter and Columbus Association of Black Journalists for Columbus City Schools students. Rigden was a member of team CCS Voice.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Who am I? Columbus students reflect on identity, purpose | Student project
Reporting by Rigden Tobden, Columbus Journalists in Training / The Columbus Dispatch
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