Hi Brandon, to Dreamviews! I'm 17 as well, and I'm also going to a graphic design school (visual effects, to be specific) once I graduate from high school.

Not all lucid dreams end in sleep paralysis; from my own experiences, I've only woken up into SP before, and that was before I even knew what a lucid dream or SP was. So it's all good.

If you haven't yet, I suggest starting up a dream journal, which is one of the most important things for lucid dreaming. You should be able to remember at least 1 dream a night before trying any induction methods; after all, if you don't remember your regular dreams, you won't remember your lucid ones. I can vouch for that, as I've had recall dryspells in the past where I'd wake up and not remember anything. To make matters even more frustrating, a few times I'd know I had a lucid dream, but I could only remember brief fragments (although I knew the dream was much longer, I just couldn't bring myself to recall it).

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.