Northview — On paper, Christian and Xander Helenius are twins who both attend the Northview Next Career Center and are set to graduate next spring. To meet them in person, you might wonder if the brothers are even related.
“When we were little, we definitely kind of stuck together,” Christian said of he and his twin. “Now I feel like we’re definitely branching out, and I think it’s kind of cool, finding out how much different we are.”
Added Xander: “We’re actually polar opposites.”
Christian and Xander both have big plans for the future, yet you won’t find them working together — and they’re perfectly fine with that. We recently spoke with the brothers about their dreams and how school is helping them get there.
Christian Helenius
Senior, Northview Next Career Center
First-year student, West Michigan Construction Institute, electrical program
What is your dream for the future? “Based on what I’m doing right now, I believe I’d like to become a certified electrician. It would be nice to wake up every day with good work and a nice schedule to look forward to — something like a 9 to 5 — and being financially stable is the goal. … I think I’ll probably work for an electrical company, at least starting off, because it would probably be a lot harder to start out working for myself, but eventually I would be open to trying that.”
Why is this your dream? “When I started (at Northview Next) I really had no idea what I wanted to do in my future. That’s when (former Northview Next director) Mr. (Drew) Klopcic started telling me about the Construction Institute, and the more and more I heard about it, the more interesting it sounded. I had never really thought about a school that focuses more on trades rather than college; we’re in the lab most of the day rather than being in a classroom, so that’s pretty cool.”
Christian originally enrolled in WMCI’s carpentry program, but was quickly drawn to electrical work once he started working on site.
“I found out that (electrical work) uses a lot of math, besides being really hands-on,” he said. “Not a lot of people can say that math is their favorite subject, but it is mine, because I feel like it just works in my brain. I really like working with my head and my hands, and (electrical work) lets me do that.”
Beyond his work at Northview Next and the WMCI, Christian is focused on finding an electrical apprenticeship for after high school graduation. The process to become a licensed electrician in Michigan typically takes about four years and requires 8,000 hours of on-the-job experience.
“To be honest, (becoming an electrician) is a road I don’t really know much about, so when something comes up that I need to figure out, I will tackle it at that time. The (licensing) requirements definitely sound like a lot upfront, but I think it should be pretty easy to space it out and I’ll be learning new stuff all the time.”
How are your teachers and classes at Northview helping you achieve your dream? Christian described feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed among the hundreds of students at Northview High School before moving to Northview Next for his junior year.
“What really helps me the most, I think, is the number of students here (at Northview Next); it’s pretty small. … Everyone has their own thing going on, and they’re focused, and it’s a lot easier to form good relationships with people here.”
Christian also credits Klopcic with shaping his life’s trajectory after some key conversations during that first year at the career center:
“He kind of gave me my future. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t really know what I would want to be doing.”
Xander Helenius
Senior, Northview Next Career Center
Second-year student, Kent Career Technical Center, emergency medical technician program
What is your dream for the future? A multi-sport athlete, Xander actually has two big dreams for his life: one, to become an athletic trainer — ideally for the Detroit Lions — and two, to compete in the pole vault for the United States at the 2028 and/or 2032 Olympics.
To accomplish this, he’s working on a third goal through classes at the Kent Career Technical Center: becoming an emergency medical responder. His plan is to work as an EMR during college to help pay for his degrees in athletic training. The medical knowledge he’s gaining will also give him a boost in the classroom, he said.
Why do you want to become an athletic trainer? “I’ve always been a big science and anatomy guy, like wanting to research the physical limitations of what the body can do and things like that. I’ve always thought the human body is the coolest thing.
“I want to go into athletic medicine because … if I can give some sort of diagnosis or help someone who becomes injured, that would be the absolute greatest thing and would make me so much more confident. If I could do this for my job and be the one looking after the guys and helping them stay healthy, I feel like I’d be in a really good head space.
“(To become a trainer) I know I’m going to have to get my master’s degree, because you have to know a lot more now with all the new medicine and developments … And I know a PhD is a lot of work, but I might have to try to attempt that, too, because basically my huge, big dream in this is to work with the Lions. I mean, to take care of them? That would be so cool.”
Why do you want to be an Olympic pole-vaulter? While he started his athletic career in team sports, over time Xander came to learn that he thrived more in sports where he competes as an individual, like cross-country, pole vaulting and swimming. He began pole vaulting his sophomore year; since then he’s attended an intensive camp, placed in the sport at regional competition and plans to attend winter training at Cornerstone University this year. His current goal is to clear a height of 15.6 feet.
“I’ve always wanted to be good enough in something to go do something huge. And I look at the Olympics as being the top people who compete in their event. I’ve always been inspired by those types of people, and that’s what I’ve also wanted my entire life: to have people look up to me and what I’m trying to do.”
How are your teachers and classes at Northview helping you achieve your dream? Xander, who is the first student to have spent all four years of high school at the career center, says the Northview Next setting fundamentally changed his goals in life.
“I did not want to go to college when I first came here; I thought I would go into the military. … But my teachers here were just constantly talking to me about what I wanted to do after (high school), about making a plan and about real-world stuff, and I realized that I wanted to pursue something that would make me more happy in life. It’s really freaking cool how much (the teachers) focus on you here … I love my teachers, every single one, because all they do every day is try to adapt and help you as well as they can.”
