For Community High seniors Gabby Watts, Jake Levine, Colin Leach and Cassidy Moravy-Penchansky, college is just around the corner, and stress is building up.

“I’m really nervous about which colleges are going to accept me,” said Moravy-Penchansky. Going to college is an adventure that these four seniors are preparing to embark upon.

Watts, who aspires to one day become a hair stylist, has her college plans laid out in front of her. She has been accepted to and will be attending Scholar’s Cosmetology School right here in Ann Arbor.

“I went to Huron Valley Beauty Academy earlier in high school but i dropped that and now I’m going to pick it up again in July at Scholar’s.” Watts is quite excited to start anew in her career in cosmetology.

“I’m going to get a degree in cosmetology which is basically a little bit of everything… I’m going to try and be a hair stylist.” Though her plans may seem set in stone, Watts still has a ways to go before she can run her own salon. “I think it usually takes about a year or two, It depends because it’s different from the high school beauty school [which is] full time,” she said.

Another senior at Community High, Jake Levine, has already been accepted to five out of the six colleges that he applied to.

“I’m still waiting to hear back from [Boston University].” At this point, Levine’s biggest dilemma is trying to decide which school he will pledge his loyalties with, and what he plans on majoring in.

“I think I want to major in American Studies,” said Levine. There is not a whole lot of worry in his mind, he still has time to figure out the details.

Leach is unfortunately still stuck on step one with his college applications. “I’m finishing and submitting my [University of] Michigan application tomorrow. I am still applying to SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), CCS (College for Creative Studies), Kendall and the major state schools.” In college, Leach wants to get his degree in art and either math or science.

“I really want to stay with my interests. Art will be my main focus, but having a wider education is very important for future careers. With an art and math degree I could become an architect, and with an art and science degree I could illustrate text books.” Leach finds himself pondering life after college and what he can do to be successful then.

Moravy-Penchansky is stuck a similar situation as Leach. She has not quite finished applying to all the schools she wants to.

“I’m not even fully done applying so I haven’t heard back from any of them,” Moravy-Penchansky said with a hint of disappointment. The 17 year old is looking forward to studying art and possibly art education in college. She considers herself to be a skilled photographer who hopes to one day have her own high school art class where she can share her skill with tomorrow’s youth.

Coming up on their last semester of high school, these four seniors are itching with excitement for college. Filling out their final applications and finishing up their high school credits, Watts, Levine, Leech and Moravy-Penchansky are finally realizing that college is right under their noses.