A year ago, Meredith Kesler was sure she wanted to work in the office of a pediatric clinic after graduation.

She likes children, and she’s good at organizing things. A perfect fit, right?

After an internship two days a week at Salisbury Pediatric Associates, the senior at East Rowan High School decided differently.

“It’s OK, but I don’t think it’s for me,” she said. “I used to think I’d want to sit behind a desk all day. But I’m not really involved with the children then.”

Kesler, who is graduating from East Rowan Friday morning, wants to teach in an elementary school someday, instead. She’s one of many students who have been able to explore careers through East Rowan’s Allied Health program. The program allows them to spend time learning in clinics and hospitals.

Perhaps Kesler is so comfortable around children because she grew up in a house full of them. For years her mother, Teresa, has operated a day care at home for as many as five young ones.

Kesler is also very orderly. She started work at 14 at the Winn-Dixie in Granite Quarry, and she’s risen in four years from bagger to assistant bookkeeper. While giving out assignments to cashiers last week, she said that the work helped her overcome shyness as a freshman.

“This has given me a chance to step out of that comfort circle,” she explained. “... It’s taught me to stand up and have a stern foot and say, ‘Do it, or you can walk out that door.’ ”

Entering the busy halls of a large high school for the first time as a lowly freshman can be intimidating. Kesler suggests that freshman explore all that school has to offer.

“Get involved in stuff,” she said. “As freshmen, you’re afraid of the guidance department. I don’t know why that is. They can help with introducing you to a lot of things.”

As the leader of East Rowan’s chapter of Students Against Drunk Driving, Kesler found plenty to do. The group secured a sign this year to honor Brad Patrick, a former East Rowan student who was killed by a drunken driver. When students dedicated the sign at the site of the wreck, the sheriff, district attorney, Salisbury mayor and others attended.

East Rowan’s SADD chapter is one of the most active in the state, school counselors say. Members hand out keychains and literature at traffic checkpoints, speak to middle school students and raise money for other events.

Kesler plans to keep her job at the grocery store during college. She has two scholarships to attend Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, and she hopes to transfer from there to Catawba College for a bachelor’s degree in education. One of her two older sisters, Rebecca, graduated from Rowan-Cabarrus on Sunday.

Teen-agers can expect ups and downs, Kesler said, and it’s important not to get discouraged.

“You’ve got to learn to take the bad with the good,” said Kesler, who doesn’t seem too flustered that her name was left out of the yearbook this year. “You can’t get everything.”

Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com .