>>When you're in high school, you're are expected to make a lot of huge decisions about your future - especially in Texas, where many students today are asked to choose a specialized area of study ssentially taking the first step towards their future career.

Thats why this year, Roadtrip Nation brought together four groups of high school students from the El Paso, Austin, Dallas, and Houston areas.

together they explored their region of Texas, interviewing inspiring individuals, professionals, and students.

Because high school is a time to explore, create, take chances and above all, a time to grow.

[MUSIC] With Road Trip Nation, they are giving me this opportunity as a high school student to take a little road trip in the state of Texas.

>> We're about to get on a awesome beach green bus RV.

>> I'm extremely excited.

I've never been on a road trip or an RV.

>> I'll be with two other students from El Paso.

>> We are going to go interview.

>> People, professionals, and even students in the perspective fields that we wanted to go into.

>> And I actually really like that because I'd be the first one in my family to go to college.

So I don't get much advice from my parents, because you know, they don't know.

>> We are going to go interview people to see how they got to their accomplishments and hopefully.

help us find our goals in how we get to where we want to be.

>> How long is it?

Four days, five days?

>> One of my main questions is like why did you pick this?

What was your passion to strive to do what you are doing right now.

>> If they ever question themselves or how they got out of their self- doubt, whether they would make it or not.

>> I'm excited to meet new people, and travel to places I've never been, because I've never been to another city in Texas.

>> Two other road trippers are coming with me.

I'm super excited to meet them.

>> I mean, I saw this giant RV.

You can't miss it.

>> It was bigger than I expected, way bigger than I expected.

>> I was like, okay, I'm about to get on this RV and I'm about to have this amazing adventure.

>> Saying good-bye to my father.

It was like going off to college almost.

I felt like an independent woman, like, wow, I'm out on this trip.

My name is Sheila Thai.

I am 16 years old and I'm a sophomore at Pebble Hills high school.

I was born and raised here in El Paso.

I am first generation.

My parents came from Vietnam to America in 1999 and two years later they had me.

Sheila.

My parents, they're constantly working.

If there was Olympics for working they'd probably get gold.

Because I see them work so hard day and night I think that rubbed off on me.

I'm always on top of my grades and I always have high standards for myself.

I'm the oldest.

I have two sisters.

One is in eighth grade and one is in the sixth grade.

How do we look?

Do we look like MIchael Jackson?

>> [LAUGHTER] >> When they're not doing that great in class my parents are like you need to help them.

And sometimes I'm at odds because I don't know exactly what to help them with.

But I try to, yeah I try.

I love reading.

I've been recently reading Harry Potter.

I finished the third book so that's why this Halloween I dressed up as Hermione.

I'm the like epitome of a nerd, I'm on top of my grades and I like reading and I have glasses.

So I'm stuck between this area where I want to enjoy high school while it's still there but still prepare for college and the application process and all that stuff.

All this stuff on my plate is just given me a taste of what adulthood is like.

I actually have the white hairs to prove how stressed I am.

However, I think it might be genetic.

This is one of my favorite ones because we look so fashionable.

Look how modelesque that looks, right Dad?

My purpose in life is to be helpful, like I want a purpose.

I found out about the medical field.

How many occupations there are.

I haven't decided what really, but I would like to be a pediatrician, a nurse, there's a lot that I'd like to do and I know I should choose one but I'm the most indecisive person.

>> Coming onto the RV it was the first time China, Sheila and I had met each other as a whole.

Talking to someone online or even over the phone is totally different from seeing them in person.

Wow I mean do I act the same?

Do I act I guess cooler in a sense, or am I too awkward?

This is amazing.

My name is Thomas Pena, I am 17 years old, and I am a senior in high school.

My father is in the US military so we moved from place to place to place.

I was born in [INAUDIBLE] Arizona, then I moved to Stuttgart, Germany, Augusta, Georgia, somewhere in Maryland, Southern Texas, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Zama Japan.

And then I'm now in El Paso, Texas.

Every time I move it would always be a culture shock.

Even when I moved out to the US, it was a culture shock even though I am American.

Moving from place to place, the only thing that's ever been constant was my immediate family, so just mother, father, sister, and brother.

I just love to cherish the moments that we have together whether it's just watching a movie together or even just driving around El Paso to Costco.

>> Yeah.

>> That was like luck.

That was pure luck.

>> I'd always been good at every subject but it wasn't until my freshman year in high school where I got this internship to work at a military base clinic in Japan.

And there I had worked in the optometry clinic.

Take people's visual acuities, 20/20, 20/30 all that kinda stuff.

And just having the satisfaction of being able to make someone else's life better.

When it ended I was, what is there else to do?

Just from that point on I had focused on somewhere in the medical field.

Having an end goal or goal that I want to reach, the thing that always fuels me to reach that goal always has to come back to my family where, my parents never graduated college, my grandparents had to drop out in elementary school.

Giving it to them where they get to see where he's gonna be the first doctor in the family.

That just brings so much joy to me where I get to make my family happy.

And what are you gonna be doing when I'm gone?

>> Stealing your things, and stealing your thumbtacks.

Stealing all your pictures.

[MUSIC] >> I feel at first we were all kinda shy, but we all just became together and got on our RV and we were all checking it out.

My name is China Lane.

I'm Spaniard, German, French, Canadian, Native American, did I say Chinese?

No, okay, Chinese.

[MUSIC] [SOUND] And I think that's it I feel like that's, and Irish.

It is my senior year, so I'm working a lot towards college applications.

Right now, I'm kind of procrastinating which is what I kinda do a lot.

Being a senior has been kinda hard, because my schedule's pretty busy.

I do choir, drama, dancing, cheer, shooting sports.

Balancing everything is really hectic for me.

For sure, my mom helps a lot and every time I get sad or down, I know I can go to her.

She truly has helped me as far as teaching me my confidence and being who I am and yeah, she literally is my best friend.

[MUSIC] That the competitions I do are main yardages of 40,50, and 60, so it's pretty far.

My all-prized possession, my highest overall plaque.

With my mom being an air traffic controller, that got me big into airplanes and just being in the sky.

This is when I flew over El Paso and my certificate.

When the Blue Angels came down here, because my mom is Navy, they let me go behind the scenes with the pilots and I got to rub the lucky number one of the plane.

And it was like, this is how I know for sure I'm going to be a pilot.

Somehow, some way.

[MUSIC] [MUSIC] I am super excited to go meet the female Major at Dyess Air Force Base, because I'm going for that track.

I want to become an officer for the Air Force.

Just to be able to talk to her and find out what her route was to get there.

What are the stipulations for doing applications, making sure they're right, and like what was her push, be like yes this is what I'm going to do.

But I was super excited, flies a C130.

[MUSIC] >> Well, welcome guys.

I'm Major Cynthia McKenna.

I fly the C130J airplane for the Air Force.

My squadron currently is doing amazing things all around the world.

We're in Europe, Africa.

We are also helping with the hurricane relief as we're going through right now.

At any given point, we could be on six, seven different continents at a time [MUSIC] >> What made you wanna go into this?

>> I actually grew up around aircraft, my father was a test pilot, I always loved airplanes.

I'd wanted to be a pilot, but I actually didn't know about the Air Force Academy until junior year of high school.

My brother, he told me about this place called the Air Force Academy that I had never heard about.

And I found out that if I did that, I could be a pilot.

I was like, yep.

That's what I want to do.

>> So since you found out about the Academy like your junior year, how much did you have to like catch up on, or like do?

>> A lot.

[LAUGH] Yeah, I actually found out the summer before my junior year.

And if you guys have done any of the applications for it, you know that it's a very involved process with getting the appointments and all the essays and all that thing.

So I pretty much had to hit the ground running, and I just put my nose to the grindstone and just worked.

We'll look through this as we're flying, and all of our flight data will be displayed on there as we're flying.

>> That's amazing.

>> It was really cramped, but whatever, you don't get everything.

Then we went to the back, and it was the total opposite, it was all spacious.

It was crazy cuz she was saying how you could fit 100 people in there.

And you can fit trucks and cars and they just fall from the sky.

>> I've been to a lot of planes.

But to see a C-130 and see how it works and where the cargo goes and that there's little rolly things on the ground.

>> See these rollers?

It's so we can roll cargo on and off.

>> How did you find yourself becoming a pilot for the C-130 rather than, let's say, a jet or different aircraft?

>> Yeah.

>> A big reason why I joined the Air Force is cuz I wanted to help people.

We carry cargo, we do humanitarian aid.

We can drop food, we can drop people, Army Airborne, the troopers.

They'll jump out of here.

So they have a thing that comes out of their parachute and they hook up here, and they jump out that way.

>> She can deliver cargo to the hurricanes.

But then again, she can also pick up 90 patients who need critical help anywhere in the world.

>> I have been lucky enough to see a lot of those missions.

One that very much stands out to me is I was deployed to Kandahar.

I was out just flying a normal mission.

I get a message for an emergency medical evacuation, when we land, come to find out it was a young Afghan boy who had stepped on a landmine, had lost both of his legs, and his father was with him.

It was a very human moment for me.

This little boy, probably about five years old, being wheeled on to our plane and you could tell that it meant the world to his dad.

He walked around to every single one of us and shook our hand and kissed our hands and said thank you, thank you, thank you.

And we got the little boy to Kabul to get taken care of.

So when I say that's the kind of stuff that I'm proud of.

That's the kind of thing that the Air Force does every day that not everybody sees.

I have never been so proud as on that day that my team worked together and made that happen to help that family.

[MUSIC] >> We got to go into an air traffic tower.

>> As far as I can see, we saw cargo planes and bombers.

And that was cool cuz I felt like I was in a movie set.

[MUSIC] >> So where are you guys originally from?

>> From El Paso, Texas.

>> Yeah.

>> From El Paso, Texas.

>> But we're both military brats, so my mom as actually an aircraft controller in the navy.

>> Cool >> Getting to go into an air traffic controller and seeing what my mom did, I understand more of how important it was.

>> Being the son of an Army officer, I understand the military.

But for the first time I got to experience it with my own eyes what these people actually do.

I could be doing that one day.

As high school students onto college any last piece of advice?

I know on the spot is.

>> Yeah that's kind of a tough question.

>> Yeah.

>> I would say one of the things looking back is don't let anybody else drive your life.

Whatever you guys are gonna do, do it on your choice.

If somebody doesn't favor your position on something, it's not their life.

It's your life.

It's you're guy's choice.

>> Coming from a military family, a lot of people are like, you just wanna follow, you know, your family.

And it's like no.

I truly wanna serve my country.

Because it's something I wanna do [MUSIC] Never stop reaching for your dreams.

>> Become the change you wanna see in the world.

Stealing a little bit from Gandhi there but.

>> [LAUGH] >> I believe in it, so- >> Thank you so much.

>> I really freaked out about going and applying for the Academy to the point where I didn't wanna finish my application because I got really scared.

And that night after the interview I finished by application actually.

And when I was sitting there I just remembered all her words sort of encouragement.

And when I actually hit like the submit button I took my step and like I actually did this and nobody told me to do it, like it was all on me.

[MUSIC] >> We went to Odessa, where we interviewed Dr. Kola.

[MUSIC] >> I really wanted to be with people.

I wanted to be a social league and touch someone's life on a regular basis.

>> She's a pediatrician and that's one of the options I was thinking about.

>> I'm Kola.

I'm the assistant professor and regional vice chairman for the Department of Pediatrics in Texas Tech University.

>> She's a mother of two and her husband's a physician, talk about family goals right there.

>> I was wondering if you could tell us kinda your story, kinda to where you are today.

>> Your journey.

>> Yeah, your journey.

>> Taking me back again [LAUGH], to the past, okay.

[MUSIC] I went to medical school in India.

We had about 10 million in that city, and we had only two medical colleges.

There was so much competition.

My family was a big support.

My dad has always dreamed that I be a physician.

But when I said my decision was to come to United States, they were kind of scared.

As a single girl going out, it probably wouldn't be safe.

I did have a culture shock because I come from a very orthodox family.

But I was determined.

I knew I was going in the right direction and here I am.

>> Did you ever, along the way, question that maybe this isn't the job for you, for find interest in something else.

Or was, I guess this was plan A you succeeded the whole route.

>> I never had a plan B [LAUGH] honestly.

I never had a plan B because I've always thought and I kept talking to myself that I will be a doctor one day.

Maybe not today, maybe not this year, but I will get there.

>> A lot of the things people stated were, was its all up to you really.

[MUSIC] That your drive and your dedications gonna get you through.

Just keep on moving forward.

>> I love kids every since I was a premed student.

I feel that kids, they express what is in their heart.

>> I just make picture myself in scrubs and talking to little kids about their illness or they'll get better.

>> I mean, how many patients would come and hug you and thank you.

>> It was amazing to see her cuz she is a minority, but she's so accomplished.

And I would like to ask what steps she took to overcome hurdles, especially regarding her race.

>> Actually recently I was bullied based on my race.

And I thought I would have a tougher skin, but I didn't unfortunately.

You said you were from India and I'm Vietnamese.

And since I was little, I was always kind of embarrassed [LAUGH].

Right, my God.

>> It's okay, I feel you.

That's fine, that's fine, it's okay.

>> I'm from El Paso so it was like predominantly Hispanic.

>> Mm-hm.

>> And I was like the only Asian kid, and quite recently I was mocked based on my color of my skin.

It had been a while since I was made fun of.

>> Right, right.

It happens.

So what do you say about adults?

I experience that with adults too.

I was in the same boat, and it's okay to cry.

It means that you are sensitive.

So you can be a good pediatrician.

You can relate to the kids now.

>> I tend to keep things bottled up inside.

And just seeing how some people are struggling with the same struggles as you are.

You're not alone.

>> My God, this is cool.

>> Change is not easily accepted anywhere.

When you move out of your country, you know that you're facing more challenges.

But that makes you strong.

A diamond shines only when it's rubbed against a lot of times.

>> One thing she told me was negativity, you'll get that all the time, but don't quit.

Don't let that stop you from pursuing what you want to pursue.

>> Keep the fire in you burning all the time.

>> And remember, challenges are only going to make you strong.

>> Good luck.

>> Yeah, challenges will make you strong.

Life is like an immune system.

The more challenges you get, the stronger you'll get.

[MUSIC] >> I think one of the main things that I was looking for on this road trip was seeing how other people transitioned from high school to college.

And even how that transition keeps on going on.

We went to Midland College, where we really got an opportunity to talk to Diana Garcia.

>> I just turned 19.

I started this fast track to medical school and here I am.

>> I thought straight out of high school you just go to university.

But I knew nothing about Midland College, so it's called Primary Care Pathway.

>> It takes two years of school at Midland College.

>> And then one year in Denton, I believe and four years in Forth Worth.

>> And then she already has a set C in medical school.

Where she has that reassurance that she's gonna become the pediatric physician that she wants to be.

>> That was amazing, to be like, you're so young and you already kinda have your plan and you're like only a year older than me.

>> So it was crazy how you can take different routes, but still end up in the same destination.

>> This is completely new information for me.

>> It's not like a straight linear line, it's a whole, reminds me of a heart beat monitor kind of thing.

>> This is some of the simulations and this is one of the mannequins we use.

>> We were just kind of chilling and all of the sudden it started blinking it's eyes.

I was like, wait, what?

>> We saw one mannequin have a seizure.

And I've never seen a seizure.

He even flat-lined, luckily it was fake.

>> The most amazing part was that we got to see a real life sonogram and I was whoa.

>> Can I just say my mind is like completely blown?

>> He's gonna make his first TV debut.

>> Being able to see how a doctor interacted with a patient.

And it was amazing.

>> I could relate to her on such a personal level.

Parents, we're hard workers and they brush that on her.

>> You know how like field workers and stuff?

Those were my parents.

My parents were field workers and they're like Dana we want you to work hard so you don't have to be with us, out here working in the fields.

And all these motivations got me going.

I find something amazing about a doctor and be like, you know what?

I want to do that.

I do, I get excited cause that's gonna be me.

That's really gonna be me.

>> Never let anything dictate who you are, be yourself and make your own path.

>> Yeah.

>> [APPLAUSE] >> I kind of found that is, determination and having the grit.

But also keeping in the back of your mind that the reason why you're going through all this and kind of Looking to the future, that's gonna be me one day.

[MUSIC] >> This is the last city on the trip.

Three days, it feels like I've been here for two months.

Amazing how time works that way.

>> Honestly, it's hard for me to accept that it's ending.

>> I feel a lot better with how I'm gonna move on with my future as well as I actually did my application.

I clicked finally, the two wires together.

Don't just say things to do them, do it.

Don't wait for change, be the change.

Illuminate the world with your light inside.

Chyna Lane 2018.

>> Being able to see these different people and these different opportunities that are actually in the backyard they live in.

That's amazing to me.

[MUSIC] I wrote, if it is to be, it is up to me.

>> Nice.

>> I plan on applying to all the colleges I can, enjoying high school life while I still have it.

And be more adventurous, meet new people, don't be as quiet and shy.

I put look for adventure and laugh at your own jokes, Shayla Thai.

Just experience life, I don't wanna live it stuck in my room online because nothing beats real life, nothing beats having these experiences.

>> You've crossed a lot of hurdles, I'm sure, and you've come so far.

>> So don't give up.

[MUSIC] >>To learn more about how to get involved, or to watch interviews from the road visit roadtripnation.com