Shawn Austin is a recent graduate of Carolina Day School.

Shawn Austin

By Melissa Henry –

A recent graduate of Carolina Day School, Shawn Austin knows where he’s been, and he knows where he’s going.

As a senior, he was the leading rebounder on the Varsity Basketball Team and was accepted at the college of his choice, Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, where he plans to pursue a business degree. As a graduate, he understands that the fine art of balancing work, school, and family life played a huge part in his success.

Shawn still has studying on his mind even though school is out. When asked how he plans to spend his summer, he replied: “I want to learn how to figure out tough math problems.” The plan involves accessing Khan Academy as one means to this noble end, and he will get an early jump on his academic career, taking summer classes at Western.

Shawn has also worked at Harmony Motors for the last two years, where his supervisors find him hard-working and helpful. Those two character strengths make him an asset to his current employer, and his work at Harmony has given him an insider’s perspective to life as an entrepreneur—as well as the aspiration to own a car dealership himself one day.

He has lots of great advice for upcoming seniors, such as how to handle stress: “I don’t really stress a lot. I respond to the situation rather than stress; that way, the situation is handled and doesn’t become stressful.” He also encourages young learners to “make sure you keep up with your school work because once you miss one assignment it’s hard to catch back up.”

But working and studying is not all this young scholar carries into his future. In ninth grade Shawn began to fine-tune his talent as a lyricist and music producer, teaching himself to use GarageBand and Logic Pro, two high-tech production programs. As an entrepreneur, he could someday turn these skills into a money-making endeavor.

So much promise in one young man!

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