CANYON, TEXAS -- Five Canyon High School graduates are already ahead of a lot of first-time college students.

They have their EMT Certifications, and they earned them before they even got their high school diplomas. It's hard to believe those five graduates are that far ahead of the game. They all plan to use that certification to get jobs that pay well over minimum wage. Pronews 7 is focusing on these students in our Region 16 Spotlight Education report.

"They spent two hours of class with me everyday and went through 24 hours of clinical rotations after they completed the class. Those 24 hours were in the ambulance and emergency room," said Michele Barton, HST Instructor at Canyon High School.

These students have been working hard all year. Spending hour after hour, learning their skills to test and earn their EMT Certification.

"I think its very important. It gives these kids a job skill. All kids want a job when they get out of school a lot of kids have to work their way through college this gives these kids something a lot better than a minimum wage job," said Barton.

"I feel very lucky because I mean, I have to pay for some of my college so it's really going to help and gives me that opportunity to fall back on to work," said Dani King, earned her EMT Certification.

"It makes things a lot easier especially when you're going through college and trying to get a job, you know that, you kind of have more experience and a leg up on everybody that you have your feet wet already. It's really helpful," said Makenna Miller, earned her EMT Certification.

For some of them, completing the courses even helped them realize their future career. One student is even looking to become an OBGYN or ER Physician.

"The clinical rotations kind of made me see what an ER Physicians does on a day to day basis. In the field you have to think fast and you have to be fast and you have to be on your toes all the time and its real fast pace and I just love that," said Miller.

This is the second year that Canyon High School has offered the HST classes, and it will continue doing that in the fall.