At Salem Community High School, 22 students walk through their final year not just as seniors, but as caregivers in training—future nurses, technicians, and health professionals gaining hands-on experience through the school’s Certified Nursing Assistant program.

“It’s a big group this year,” said Michelle Blomberg, who helps oversee the program. “All but two plan to go into healthcare—and for many, it started with a desire to help others, even before they knew what form that might take.”

Students in the program train on-site at nursing homes like Twin Willows and Doctors Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, learning far more than how to check vitals or chart care. They learn to read people, practice empathy, and show up when someone needs them most.

“Whether or not I end up working in healthcare,” Abigail Perry  said, “this program has taught me skills I’ll use for the rest of my life—how to solve problems, how to stay calm under pressure, and how to truly help someone.”

They’re already learning that healthcare work doesn’t just serve the patient—it changes the caregiver. Bre Thurman described how walking into a nursing home helped her recognize how deeply she values her own health. Hailey Skibinski spoke of the surprise in seeing young people—21 or even younger—needing long-term care. “It’s not just the elderly who need care,” she said. “It really puts things in perspective.”

Michelle works with the SSM Healthcare systems to offer internships to match students with experiences that reflect their personal interests. That means some students spend time shadowing in OB/GYN, radiology, surgical nursing, phlebotomy, veterinary medicine, and even dialysis care. The district recently added a phlebotomy course to address shortages in the local healthcare community.

“The goal is to give them a taste of what's out there,” Michelle said. “And not just to help students find a match—but to help them know if something’s not a match. We’d much rather they discover that here, in a program funded by local taxpayers, than after they’ve committed to a college and career path they’re unsure of.”

For many of these students, the decision to pursue nursing was personal. About half were inspired by relatives in the healthcare field; others simply discovered a spark in the classroom that stuck harder than anything else. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Sadie White  explained. “But once I started learning this material, I knew I’d found something that mattered.”

And when you ask them to respond to critics who paint young people today as disinterested or lacking work ethic, their answers are clear and direct.

“They haven’t seen us work,” Jaq Taylor t said. “They don’t see us in the clinicals, or talking to patients, or working a job after school.”

“They base their opinions on social media,” Luke Young. “But they don’t know what we’re actually doing in school—or how much we care.”

It’s worth noting that many of these students do work jobs, play sports, and juggle their CNA training on top of their regular classes. “Some of them even have two jobs,” Michelle said. “These are busy, committed, purpose-driven students.”

They’re also young people who recognize the gravity of the work they’re doing—whether it’s watching a baby come into the world or sitting with someone near the end of their life. “You really learn to put someone else before yourself,” Natalie Lee said. “And you realize that dignity and kindness matter more than anything.”

In a world often eager to dismiss a generation as distracted or unmotivated, the students in Salem Community High School’s CNA program offer a different story—one of deep engagement, clear-eyed compassion, and a willingness to carry others when they’re at their most vulnerable.

And maybe that’s the real takeaway here: not just that these students are ready to serve—but that they’ve already started.