The research explores Black and Latinx recent high school graduates' perceptions of their high school English classes and the value they placed on their experiences and their futures. This study aims to amplify the voices of students who have been dismissed from academic research on issues concerning student voice by providing recent graduates an opportunity to share their perceptions of the relevance of the English class curriculum to their lives and how they perceived their teachers' pedagogical decisions as factors that contributed to their academic success. Through convenience sampling, 12 Black and Latinx former high school students who attended schools in southern California participated in semi-structured interviews from summer to fall of 2023. Qualitative interviews were selected as the primary methodology to ensure the narratives and experiences could be heard without limiting what interviewees shared. Led by the theoretical frameworks of The Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (CSPs), this research reiterates the need for mutuality in the educational system by recognizing the role that student engagement and student voice should play in how curriculum and content for high school English courses are developed. Findings from this study suggest that the current education system still needs to catch up with the realities faced by students today that were highlighted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The themes from the data include confidence and the development of self-efficacy, the classroom activities they're asking for, a future-minded focus leads to persistence, and the hidden curriculum. The research is significant for educational policy, as it can influence how the high school English curriculum is planned and implemented, how teacher training programs define student engagement, and how educators interpret authentic student voice and choice and the place it should have in the relationship between coursework and student academic achievement. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]