As she and her classmates step forward, leaving the insular, supportive walls of their private school, they meet familiar questions.

"Can I do this?" asked Mehari, of Cary, who is bound to distant Stanford University. "Am I ready?"

Ian Fincham, 18, is headed to UNC-Wilmington, where he plans to study marine biology.

"This is kind of all I know," he said, sitting on a verdant quad during his final week at a place he spent seven years.

Fincham anticipates unpredictable paths and unfamiliar faces. He doubts college will lead straight to a career.

Society's challenges are "going to be more real," he said. "In economics, you study the recession, but you don't see a lot of it."

While a tight job market clouds the future, Mehari and Fincham travel with momentum along life's arcs.

Fincham, of Fuquay-Varina, volunteers at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, where he handles animals and people. He also works in theater.

And of his own volition he visits lakes to teach fishers to preserve fish populations.

Mehari teaches students to speak English. She learned the language at age 6, when she moved to California from Ethiopia. Her mother, and Mehari by extension, attained citizenship last July 4.

She likes learning about people. She wants to be a pediatrician. She wishes she could play piano.

"We're so privileged here - it makes you more driven," Mehari said.

Fincham is unsure of his path. But he knows that he wants to spend each day engaged and outdoors.

The questions he and Mehari considered as they applied for college refined their beliefs and motivations.

"It was a time of exploration," Mehari said.

"Self-actualization," Fincham added.