Imagine getting a head start in your career before graduating high school.
That’s what some students are doing at Shawnee Mission High School; getting an inside look at their career.
“It gives you an opportunity to see if this is what you really want to do and like be able to experience it,” senior Rashala Holloway said.
“You're really put in the situation of what would you do here and you can use that, you can go with that,” senior Megan Kenney said. “It’s like information that you'll take with you.”
They’re part of a program called Blue Eagle, where they get hands on experience in EMT, law, fire science and law enforcement.
“They need to be able to see how it works and when we give them the opportunity to do these things, their confidence level soars and their direction goes on high alert and they figure out what they want to do,” program director, John Douglass said.
High school senior, Anastasia Kling wants to be a paramedic.
“It's one of those jobs where you're always on your toes and you just always have to be ready,” she said.
Kling said it’s a program that provides more than a feel for the job.
“Self-confidence in a way,” she said. “If you didn't believe you could do something before and now you can.”
For junior Skyler Rhoades, who wants to be a firefighter, he says the best part is putting on the uniform.
“It feels really nice and it's just a great feeling to know that this is what I am going to be doing and getting a head start,” Rhoades said.
Right now, the program is looking to expand its learning space.
The current Maintenance and Operation Facility of Shawnee Mission will soon be moving to the north part of the district.
Douglass said the facility will be the perfect hands-on learning playground for students in the Blue Eagle program and other programs, from firefighter training to auto technician training. Right now, they are discussing how much it would cost.
“We can put direction in these child's lives, we can aim them in the right direction,” Douglass said.
Douglass says this program provides a chance for students to get a feel for their career before graduation but also hearing the realities of the job.
“You don't sugarcoat it. You tell them that things can happen, it can happen in any profession,” Douglass said. “Right now, in Houston, there are police officers and firefighters and the general public who are risking lots to save people they've never met. And we want the kind of student to understand the reasons why.”
Douglass said recreating the maintenance and operations facility into a learning lab for the Blue Eagle program should be complete by Fall 2018.
