Every year, from February to March, sophomores get the opportunity to apply to the vocational program Prosser to hopefully advance their careers and gain an understanding of what they wish to pursue.
“I hope to gain the skills it takes to operate a plane,” sophomore Isabela Sanchez said. “I would really like to be able to tell what everything is on a console and just be able to identify and learn the purpose of everything.”
As Sanchez notes, Prosser is designed to be a vocational school to get experience in the career that a student does. They currently offer 26 different programs, ranging from construction to cosmetology. After a student gets accepted, they spend their junior and senior years doing the program for four periods a day with all classes being related to the program. Her prospective program, aviation, has a very hands-on experience with actual flight time after students familiarize themselves with aviation technology, according to Prosser.
“The process [of applying] was actually really easy, much easier than I expected,” Sanchez said. “There were no glitches or anything. It honestly went pretty smoothly and only took a couple of minutes.”
Sanchez applied to Prosser in early February, and will hopefully get a response back, which is in mid-April according to counselor Natalie McGarvey. It took her a short amount of time to fill out the application, but she said the main hurdle was with the letter of recommendation that is required for all students. Sanchez had decided she wanted to do the aviation program, and she has no current teachers that directly relate to that career. She ended up having to ask a family friend who she had helped do tasks for before.
“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse and my sister went to Prosser for nursing and liked it, so I’m doing the same thing,” sophomore Ellie Scharlow said. “I hope I can learn a bunch of things about nursing so I can be prepared a little bit before I start college.”
Scharlow applied during early February so she didn’t have to worry about it later, and said the most work besides her letter of recommendation was asking her parents about a lot of personal questions. As with Sanchez, getting the letter of recommendation for her was hard. She first asked John Kaiser, who teaches math. Later on she asked Steven Prince, who teaches Latin, but it took her a while to get a reply from either. She thinks that besides her letter of recommendation, which showcases how hard of a worker she is, her grades will hopefully get her into Prosser despite the competitiveness of the nursing program.
“I believe that everyone is a strong candidate in their own way because everyone is better in different areas than another,” sophomore Emma Lesnet said. “So, I don’t necessarily think I’m a stronger candidate than any other prospective students, but that I’m just as strong of a candidate as the other students.”
Unlike Sanchez and Scharlow, Lesnet chose to submit her application a little bit later so she had time to think about what she wanted to do. She ended up applying to the two year healthcare program as her first option, and as a first year CNA for her second option in case she doesn’t get into her first choice. The main goal that she wants to accomplish during her time at Prosser is to have already done multiple college credit classes that are related to nursing. This is because nearly every class that is taken at Prosser is dual credit, which means that it is a college level course at local universities like Vincennes or Indiana University.
“The process is really short and sweet,” Sanchez said. “I think it is a good process where you can prepare in advance and just drop in all your information.”
