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What are you going to be when you grow up?      Common answers are doctor, lawyer, fireman, policeman and a few others. There is nothing wrong with any of these professions and if that's what you really want to be, wonderful. But if you want to be in a profession because it is seen in TV and movies a lot and seems cool or because mom and dad have mentioned it, or a counselor at school, then do some more thinking. Whatever you decide to do, you will be doing it for a long time. You will study hard to learn it. Don't put all that time and energy into something you really don't like. There are SO many choices! Let's just look at a few.      If you want to earn good money and you like numbers and keeping things organized you might think about being a banker or an accountant, or a statistician or insurance actuary.  Ask a school counselor about what those people do sometime. Do you like to create things? You could be an artist. There are many kinds, you know. You might be thinking of doing paintings on canvas and having shows to sell them. That's one kind of artist. You know how many animated movies and TV shows there are. Artists using software create those. Other artists draw comic books. Still others illustrate books, catalogs or ads in magazines. Another artist is the photographer. Like to take photos? Some artists make sculptures out of stone, or out of metal they weld together. And there are many more types of artist.      A lot of people want to become a doctor or lawyer because they want to help people. Those are not the only ways to help people. What about being an engineer? There are many types. A civil engineer might build roads or bridges or skyscrapers. An electrical engineer might work on anything that has to do with electricity. That includes solar or wind power because those are just ways to create electricity. An aeronautical engineer might design airplanes or even rockets. A chemical engineer might do research on new uses for old chemicals or new chemicals to do new things.      An interesting and often exciting profession is scientist. I have no idea how many types of scientist there are but there are plenty. A zoologist studies animals and there are many paths that can take -- you could work at a museum or zoo, study animals in the wild, study insects that help us and how to get rid of insects that harm us, just to name a few. A botanist studies plants and could work in research to find new medicines from plants, or find new ways to grow plants to make more food for the world and much more. An astronomer studies things in space like stars, planets, asteroids and solar systems. An astronomer might work in a museum, an observatory, a planetarium, a university or for NASA! Wouldn't it be exciting to discover a new planet! Or you could be an archaeologist and study what was left by ancient civilizations. It would be awesome to discover a lost city in the jungle or buried in the desert! And what about paleontologist, geologist, seismologist, chemist, physicist, ornithologist, hydrologist, and the list goes on and on.       Or you might want to be a fashion designer and design clothing for people. Or be a farmer and grow food for thousands. Or own a chain or restaurants or a lumber yard. Or be an architect and design homes for people. Or be a writer and write wonderful stories for people to read or write information books that help people understand things. Or maybe become a politician like a mayor and run the city better than anyone else!      The point is, don't limit yourself. There are a million things you could do. And some of the things that you might enjoy most may be something you haven't even heard of yet. So explore a little. Read about different occupations. Talk to people who do different things. Keep an open mind and never sell yourself short.