OCALA, Fla. — Imagine learning skills in high school that are so specialized that you're able to earn money over summer breaks, while you're studying in college or even full time when you graduate.
Thanks to a passionate Marion County A+ Teacher Mrs. Hollie Cunningham, it's a reality.
Cunningham's EKG tech class at West Port High School in Ocala looks and sounds more like a hospital than a classroom.
It's a real life introduction to the medical profession that prepares students to work at doctors’ offices and hospitals.
"It is essentially a college course that is taught on a high school level. At West Port we have an 100 percent pass rate for that. Last year, I had 35 students who sat for their state boards, and all 35 passed,” Cunningham said.
She says that type of knowledge really opens doors.
"Every time they have gone to apply for a job, they have gotten it successfully,” she said.
Cunningham knows firsthand what they need to know, since she's worked as a nurse and still does alongside Ivy League prepared cardiologists.
In fact she would likely still be working as a full-time nurse but says she had an epiphany from God to teach instead.
Cunningham said, "And I thought if God leads me I cannot fail so I have to do this."
She was nominated as an A+ Teacher for her faith in her students along with her humor, patience and experience.
Cunningham sheds tears when she says in the end, it's simple.
"Whether it's being a nurse at the bedside or being a teacher at the desk, just getting down and looking into their eyes and saying, ‘Do you need anything? Are you okay?’ I mean I really feel as teachers that's the biggest gift that we can give to our students."
