What if you could get a sneak peek into your future – mistakes avoided, opportunities seized and wisdom gained? We caught up with three alumni who once walked these very halls to reveal the lessons they wish they had learned sooner—so you can walk your own path with confidence and clarity.
As we near towards the end of the school year, the essential question asked is “what’s next?”, but in reality, there is no magic spell we can cast to ensure we not only fall onto the right path, but also stay on it. For many highschool students, life after graduation is not always crystal clear and foreseeable, with the average person changing their career from three to seven times.While the exact number can vary depending on factors like industry, generation and individual circumstances, career changes are a common part of many people’s professional journeys.
For Dustin Landry, Class of 2005, highschool was essentially a big melting pot full of various extracurriculars and sports to discover, with Landry often being involved in activities such as choir and technical theater. He even earned a quadruple honor bar Thespian award during his time in theater production. “I was definitely one of those kids that had a very addictive personality and wanted to do everything,” he explained. Landry’s love for adventure and new opportunities followed him after highschool. He began work in various industries such as sales and marketing before moving onto his career as an energy broker. However, after many dull years of working as a broker, he soon began to feel unfulfilled despite making a comfortable living. So at the age of 35, Landry made the bold decision to leave the corporate world behind and start fresh in the kitchen in the restaurant industry. But he wasn’t just given the golden ticket to owning his own restaurant; he had to work his way up through the ranks of restaurant management before considering the possibility of designing his own curated menu. Yet nonetheless, Landry’s hard work and determination gained him the invaluable experience needed to open his own brick and mortar – UpDog HTX is an industrial escape where American classics are reimagined with a unique and creative twist. “Switching careers at 35-36 is a pretty big bet to put onto yourself and your success, but it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life,” he expressed. But Landry doesn’t only credit his achievements to his earned experience, he also claims that by putting himself out there, he was able to get a feel for the things he liked and didn’t. “I think it’s important to at least give it a shot, right? Don’t sit back and be overwhelmed by the options when you can just try them all,” he emphasized.
Another alumni, similar to Landry, has also had a life full of both change and adventure, but also one defined by resilience, adaptability, and relentless pursuit of new opportunities. Lauren Suckarie, shared her remarkable journey from graduating in 2004 to establishing a successful career in the entertainment industry. With a degree in communications from the University of Houston, she navigated opportunities across New York, Houston and Los Angeles, building an impressive portfolio of work experience and connections. But it wasn’t always this way, as Suckarie originally planned on going to law school.
“I went to orientation and they kept asking me about my goals and aspirations, but I spent my entire life singing. I then realized that this isn’t what I wanted to do, and I made the decision to move to New York as a backtrack,” she recalled. After working briefly as a PR assistant for a sports agency, Suckarie soon found her way back to singing as she began to tour the world with various reggae artists such as Rohan Marley, just before the age of 27. But after continuous moves between both New York and Houston, Suckarie and her family soon moved to Los Angeles where she quickly began to thrive among her new environment. Currently, she holds various roles at Cast & Crew Entertainment, where she is the director of community impact. “We do everything from writers to filmmakers. So I create partnerships and opportunities for us to really elevate our brand, with one of my main focuses being getting us into film festivals,” Suckarie explained. But her journey doesn’t only stop there, as she has begun representing clients in the entertainment world by giving them access to key-elevating business models and opportunities while representing some famous personalities.
“I really love having the opportunity to work with individuals and help them grow their businesses and their brands, it is truly the greatest blessing,” she shared. But Suckarie said she never could have anticipated what would be in the cards for her later in life, describing that film and TV was not always on her radar. She often gravitated towards the music industry. When reflecting on her journey to where she is now, Suckarie emphasized the importance of trying new things, “don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t feel like you have to have it all figured out. Really, just go for it and don’t get caught up in what other people are thinking.”
Sydney Brown, a 2012 graduate whose path has also been shaped by a vast amount of ambition, is now a successful attorney and firm owner. She was once at a point where she herself was also unsure of her path after highschool. After originally working in banking, a promise she made to herself one year threw her onto the track of starring in her own version of “Legally Blonde”. “I was working at a bank as a teller while applying for other jobs, and I didn’t have any luck landing one. I told myself that if I don’t get a job within the next year, I’d go back to school”, she recalled. After graduation, Brown dabbled in various different areas of law before shifting her attention to criminal law and personal injury, one of her firm’s main priorities. “I think I just wanted to do something that I could be proud of. I wanted work that would feel good and leave me fulfilled,” Brown shared. But in high school, she recalls being more focused on cheerleading rather than on her work, something she wishes that she would have prioritized more. “I thought those things were important to me when they were not, so I wish I would have focused on my future more, if I did I probably would have gotten to where I’m at quicker,” she explained.
Although each of them have gone their separate paths and have endeavored on journeys they thought life wouldn’t take them through, the common denominator is that it’s okay to not know or be 100% confident in your own personal journey after high school. As we have seen, these successful alums let the river of life take them a float, and eventually discovered their place in this endless world.
