Students across campus completed their end-of-program tests this week.

“I was nervous for the EOP because it is a big part of what I need in order to graduate and the passing score is 75% [for nursing],” junior Vanessa Thou said. “After being in the class for three years, it would be very disappointing to not receive my medallion and not wear it at graduation with my classmates. Luckily, I passed.”

The tests covered the general topics students have learned over the past three years in their program, with passing a prerequisite to earn a graduation medallion and their certificate of completion. 

“Students have been preparing for months reviewing notes, chapters, PowerPoints, and Kahoots. We have done a lot of playing games other classes have made with standards attached and reviewing in class,” Dental Science teacher Kirsten Winfield said. “I feel like my students and I have been working hard over the past three years. Especially with being at home through COVID, some things have been a little bit more difficult, but I know that we have all done our best to prepare. I really am just hoping the students are as confident in themselves as I am in them.”

Many of the programs, such as Culinary and Fashion Design, have had multiple teachers throughout the past three years. The different teaching styles over the years created inconsistencies that impacted some students.

“Students prepared by studying materials from the best three years of their time in Southwest, from both their time with Ms. Carlson (the previous Fashion teacher) and their time with me,” Fashion Design teacher Levi Harbeson said. “We both had different industry experiences (she worked in Fashion Design, where I predominantly worked in Costume Design), which benefits the students because they get to see both sides of the industry. My students did very well on their tests and about 75% of them passed. I knew they would be able to do it, even though we lost some instructional time with COVID. This passing rate was a bit lower than last year, but we all expected that to happen.”

Seniors in the smaller programs such as Pharmacy and CyberSecurity also had to take an end of programs test to cover the new standards. 

“I tried to study by taking a bunch of practice tests and looked through the main slides that every student worked on for Pharmacy,” senior Kylie Chavez said. “It was really hard because there were a lot of calculations for medicine, but I am happy I was able to pass.”

If students do not pass the first time, but are within five points of passing, they will be able to retake it their senior year.

“I think all program area teachers are concerned about how their students will perform this year, mostly due to the learning loss that occurred during the start and height of the pandemic,” Harbeson said. “I do expect our average score to dip, but still be above the passing score in comparison to the last two years – and that’s okay.”

Along with the EOP, juniors are also preparing to take the ACT the following week on March 1.

“I feel alright about the EOP, however I would have definitely liked to have more time to study overall. But in the end the test did not have anything I hadn’t learned already,” junior Kiersten Simmons said. “I have honestly just been really stressed because the ACT is coming up next week. I feel like all of the big test of our junior year are within two weeks of each other. Luckily, I passed my EOP so that was one stressor crossed off my list.”