In South Africa, the legacies of apartheid and colonialism continue to shape how young people perceive themselves and the society they inhabit. Despite three decades of democratic reform, structural inequalities persist in education, including higher education, as well as in economic opportunity and social mobility. Student-led campaigns such as #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall, along with global debates about higher education, have reignited discussions about the role of higher education in addressing these injustices, reflecting a renewed sense of historical consciousness among young people. This paper examines how first-year education students at a South African university use their historical consciousness to imagine the future. Historical consciousness can be defined as the ability to use knowledge of the past to orient oneself in the present and imagine the future. Using a qualitative case study approach, this paper analyses open-ended survey responses from 155 purposively sampled first-year education students. This analysis is grounded in Rüsen’s process model of historical thought, the theory of personal development of historical consciousness, and the concept of future self-continuity as theoretical frames. The findings reveal five thematic orientations of imagined futures: Romantics, Pragmatists, Fatalists, Realists, and Avoiders. The paper argues that these thematic orientations illustrate the complex, often contradictory ways students connect past injustices, present realities, and future aspirations. These orientations offer insights into the way young South Africans make meaning of their historical context as they navigate personal and collective transformation. It concludes by reflecting on the implications of these findings for history education, teacher training, and broader educational transformation in South Africa.