While some seniors are worrying about their transition into college, others will be graduating high school with college credit and will have the opportunity to start their careers as soon as this summer.

“Not only am I prepared knowledge-wise, but legally I have everything I need to go into this career,” Megan Lutman, senior in Lake County Technology Campus’ Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program, said. “I’m an 18 year old kid leaving high school with a license. That means I can instantly go into any career I want [and] I can start full time.”

The Tech Campus is a program that lets students leave in the middle of the school day to learn about a specific specialized career, helping them become prepared for the work force, even right out of high school, according to Lutman.

“My teachers tell me all the time that at our age they weren’t anywhere near this. This is coming from retired paramedics and firefighters,” Lutman said. “Knowing that we are more ahead of them and more mature than they were at this age is kind of really crazy to think about.”

The campus offers a variety of different classes besides EMS, ranging from Cosmetology to Criminal Justice to Computer Science. Alexia Maldonado, senior in the cosmetology program, says the program allowed her to fulfill her 1500 hour cosmetology license by end of her senior year.

“You can just leave out of high school with a certification for something you want to do for the rest of your life,” Maldonado said. “I’m coming out of high school and I can get my license to Cosmetology, [which] is a big part of the United States: haircuts, color, all of [those] different styles of every thing is cosmetology. Especially movies, like special effect makeup.”

According to Cheyanne Gwizdala, junior in the criminology program, Tech Campus helps students to gain first hand experience and knowledge about their future careers from teachers who already have experience in the field.

“We learn [about] the Miranda Rights, how to handcuff, and what to do during a traffic stop,” Gwizdala said. “I learn how to be a cop basically.”

Lutman says her class’ instructor is a paramedic firefighter and helps them train to be EMTs, who are people that work on ambulances. This allows the students to qualify for the state exam to get licensed.

As opposed to spending the money and time going to four years of college, Lutman already has a head start on the path towards an EMT-B license, which will help her to enter the work force faster.

“I would’ve had to take my two year associate’s degree, find medical classes, and talk to other counselors [to] figure out all the little programs I need to get this license,” Lutman said. “As a high school student, I can talk to the counselors, sign a few papers, and I’m in. It makes it easier.”

Lutman, Gwizdala, and Maldonado all say they are thankful they found the program and will be pursuing their passions in their respective careers one step ahead of other students in the profession.

“I think that if you have a dream,” Lutman said, “and you can take a tech campus program to get there, you should really take that chance.”