Every year on Noon Edition, we host graduating high school seniors who reflect on their time in school and look forward to what's next for them post-graduation.

On this week's show, we were joined by four local high school seniors. They were here to discuss their accomplishments and future plans.

All of our seniors have plans post-graduation to attend a four-year institution. Brown County High School senior Emma Hoskins will attend Indiana University Bloomington and study exercise science and biology. She plans to become an occupational therapist.

Bloomington High School South student Zoe Berensztein will also attend IU. She will live in the Civic Leaders Center her freshman year and study public management through the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She wants to run for office in Indiana in the future.

Berensztein said the idea of taking out student loans and going into debt impacted her decision to come to IU in the fall. She has scholarships that helped make her tuition much more affordable.

"I was thinking ahead to maybe graduate school or moving somewhere else where it would be help to be financially stable," she said.

Harmony School senior Anisa Curry Vietze will attend Oberlin College in Ohio in the fall. She said she's not sure what she wants to study yet, but ultimately, she wants to become a journalist. She said going out of state is more expensive and is a source of stress, but she thinks it might balance out because she doesn't have immediate plans to pursue graduate school.

"I try not to think about it," she said.

Bloomington High School North senior Julien Slaughter has plans to go to Purdue University but he's still figuring out what he study.

Our panelists spent a significant amount of time during our conversation talking about politics. All of them voted for the first time in primary earlier this month and were happy to have the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Hoskins talked about her experience researching candidates before she went into the voting booth.

"When you really take the time to know, it completely changed my perspective on the whole thing. It made me appreciate it a lot more," she said.

Our seniors also discussed the misconceptions that people might have about their generation. They said they dislike when they're called overly-sensitive or lazy. They cited teenage activists like the Parkland shooting survivors who organized nationwide marches for gun control.

Slaughter said the pressures of growing up weigh heavy on many of his peers.

"All these things are happening, and it feels like I'm powerless to stop them," he said. "We're seen as weak. We're seen as not having a great work ethic, when we do."

We ended our conservation by asking the seniors what their hopes and worries are for the future.

Our guests:

Anisa Curry Vietze, Harmony School

Emma Hoskins, Brown County High School

Julien Slaughter, Bloomington High School North

Zoe Berensztein, Bloomington High School South

You can ask questions each week by following us on Twitter @NoonEdition or by calling in to the program at (812) 855-0811.

Noon Edition airs every Friday at 12 p.m.