For the past four years, I've attended Paul M. Hodgson Vocational Technical High School. In those four years, I've had some of the best experiences and have been offered a multitude of opportunities.

In a Vocational Technical school, you choose a specific career area and you focus on it. When you graduate you receive a license or certification in the area you focused on. With these certifications, students can find a job as early as their junior year of high school.This seems like a great opportunity to most people; however, this has earned Vocational schools a certain stigma that those who attend do not go to college.

I remember trying to help a close friend of mine choose what high school to go to. I went on and on about all of the good things I was able to do at Hodgson. I thought I finally convinced her and then she went to discuss it with her mom.

She suggested Hodgson to her mom and I could tell by the look on her face what she was about to say, "Vo-Tech schools are for people that do not want to go to college." She went on and on about how she wanted her daughter to have a good future and be successful.

This is why the stigma needs to end. Attending a Vo-Tech school does not threaten your future or make you any less successful. If anything Vo-Tech schools do more to prepare their students for their futures.

A Vo-Tech school is a place where you can choose several different paths for your future. There are people who want to go to college, people who don't and people who can't for several different reasons. For all of the students that do not want to attend college or cannot attend college, a Vo-Tech school can put them right into the workforce or set them up for an apprenticeship.

This way there are no additional years of schooling or additional costs. However, theses students leave with good jobs and successful futures. For the students that do want to go to college, they have a jump start on their major and they can potentially have a good job to help support themselves through college. Either way, students leave Vo-Tech schools with the tools necessary to guide them in whichever path they choose.

Aside from life after attending these schools, there are many different activities that only Vo-Tech students can be a part of. For one, there is a Skills USA program where students compete in competitions related to their career area. You compete in individual state competitions and those who take first place go to the national competitions.

Also, there is a dual enrollment program where students can take college courses their senior year of high school. There was a concern that Vo-Tech students cannot take AP courses. Which is true, but there are alternatives like this dual enrollment program and several other honors courses. Along with the programs only for Vo-Tech schools, they offer the same types of clubs and school activities that any other public high school would have. Such as student government, sports and philanthropic groups. A Vo-Tech school has so much to offer and each student decides what they want to be included in their high school experience.

I graduated from Hodgson just a couple weeks ago and looking back I know this was the right decision for me. I graduated with a 3.8 GPA, I was the historian of Hodgson's chapter of National Honor Society, I took four college courses in my senior year, I earned a second place medal in an early childhood competition for Skills USA and I am now a certified early childhood teacher.

After all of that, I am choosing to continue my education at Wesley College along with many other classmates. Hodgson helped set me up for my future, which is the purpose of any high school, including Vocational high schools. I hope that eventually Vocational Technical high schools can be viewed as an equal option for students. I know it was the best option for me!