A Crossroads At The End Of College: Introducing 'The Howard Project'

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Howard University students (left to right) Kevin Peterman, Taylor Davis, Leighton Watson and Ariel Alford are the subjects of NPR's Project Howard. They'll be keeping audio diaries as they finish their final semester of college and look toward their futures. Robb Hill for NPR hide caption

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Robb Hill for NPR

Howard University students (left to right) Kevin Peterman, Taylor Davis, Leighton Watson and Ariel Alford are the subjects of NPR's Project Howard. They'll be keeping audio diaries as they finish their final semester of college and look toward their futures.

Robb Hill for NPR

If you know any college seniors, now might be a good time to send them some encouraging words. The class of 2015 can't be blamed if they're feeling a little worried: They're facing one of the most important transitions of their lives.

In a matter of months, they're about to launch from the relatively protected confines of college into the so-called "real world," where they have to find a sense of purpose — not to mention a paycheck. It's not hyperbole to say the decisions they make now will shape the rest of their lives.

NPR's Weekend Edition wanted to tap into the challenges facing our 2015 seniors, as well as their preoccupations. So we're going to follow four people — two men and two women — from Howard University in Washington, D.C., just a couple miles from NPR headquarters.

For a series we're calling "The Howard Project," these four students have agreed to give us a window into the questions they're grappling with as they think about their future. They'll be keeping an audio diary over the next few months — and for their first entries, we've asked them to introduce themselves however they like.

Click the audio link above to hear their introductions, or read on to learn more about Ariel Alford, Taylor Davis, Kevin Peterman and Leighton Watson.