“I thought I was ready for it,” senior Christopher Weniger said. “So I was like, ‘go for it.’”
Weniger along with senior Brody Sundblad both decided to “go for it” this year— go for the Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) that is.
However, while both decided to go PSEO, they ended up in completely different places. One stayed in Albert Lea and commute to Austin, Minn. to attend Riverland Community College and the other made the decision to travel to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. PSEO is an option at all public colleges and universities and some private schools, which gives a wider variety of options for the student.
One of the reasons PSEO is such a tempting option is because it a free year of college for the student. PSEO is government funded and pays for the first year of college. This was one thing which attracted both Sundblad and Weniger.
“It’s awesome to get a free year of college out of the way,” Sundblad said.
Sundblad is attending Riverland Community College this year. He decided to stay in Albert Lea so he could still do sports his senior year. He participates in football, swimming and diving, and track—which is his favorite sport. After one year at Riverland he plans on transferring to a different school that is Division One for track. He is unsure of where yet. With sports being such a big part of his life, he is also thinking of studying to become a physical therapist.
Weniger decided to attend Concordia College because he wants to do mission work, along with other things in South America, and Concordia has an awesome linguistics program, which will help him with that. He said his decision to leave Albert Lea was an easy one for that reason, but also because he didn’t have lifelong ties in Albert Lea. He understood it would be hard for some people because they wouldn’t be ready to leave the people they’ve known their whole life.
“It was a lot easier for me because I didn’t grow up in Albert Lea,” Weniger said.
Sundblad and Weniger agreed there are many different things about being a college student. They said the differences were good ones, though. Firstly, they hold a completely different schedule than a high school student. Sundblad said he mostly has one- to two-hour class days and only one day a week that is longer than that.
“I’ve got a lot of spare time,” Sundblad said.
Weniger also said he enjoys the schedule he has at college better than the one he had in high school. He now goes to bed around 1 a.m. so he can be up for class at 10:30 a.m. rather than being in bed by 10 p.m. so he can get to school by 8 a.m.
“The schedule is so much better in college,” Weniger said.
Though both boys have more extra time, they both said they spend a lot of it doing homework, but manage to find time for fun as well. Sundblad said when he isn’t doing homework he hangs out with his friends and trains for the track season. Weniger uses his spare time to “chill” and just not do anything. He also said sometimes the things he does in his spare time end up intertwining with school-related things. For example, he could be thinking about how to organize his next project while playing video games.
Along with the change of schedule, both boys said you have many more responsibilities with classes and homework. Sundblad said a big difference was how much the teachers push their students. He said in high school the teachers always give reminders for when homework is due and when you have tests.
“There are no reminders for work,” Sundblad said. “You are on your own with a heavy workload.”
Weniger said much the same.
“My first day of class my teachers gave me a syllabus that said all of the due dates for homework and test dates,” Weniger said. “After that I’ve only had two classes where I was reminded of homework.”
In addition to all of the other changes, Weniger had to deal with not living at home. He said the first few days hit him kind of hard by not being at home with his family and living in a dorm room.
“I like living with my family and I miss it,” Weniger said.
Even with all of these changes, both Sundblad and Weniger are happy they took the opportunity to go PSEO. In fact, neither of them had any complaints. Sundblad only had one issue.
“I’m not used to waking up early anymore,” Sundblad said with a laugh.
Neither Sundblad nor Weniger have any regrets about leaving high school to go PSEO. In fact, they both highly recommended it. Though Sundblad encourages not going far away whereas Weniger recommends leaving home.
“I like still being able to do sports and I like to be by my friends,” Sundblad said.
“I would definitely recommend going out of town,” Weniger said.
Both boys enjoy PSEO because is it a free year of college, but also for the great education and more freedom.
According to Weniger: “It’s just a ballin’ opportunity.”