House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke to students at New Berlin Eisenhower High School on Monday, encouraging them to start exploring career options early.
He also had a chance to see some of the ways the school district is already preparing students for life after high school.
While at the high school, Ryan went on a tour of the educational labs led by students who showed off their classrooms and shared their individual experiences with Ryan.
"We can send them to college already with as many as 13 college credits," said Aaron Chamberlain, a computer science teacher at the school. He says it's important to get students interested in technology fields before they get to college, to meet the high demand for employees.
"This is a wave of the future," he said. "Everybody, I believe everybody in the country needs to learn reading, writing and some kind of computer science."
Two of Chamberlain's students had the chance to meet Speaker Ryan and are already planning careers in technology related fields.
"I think it would be a wonderful experience to start some kind of small business and be involved in the startup scene," said Senior Ben Kizaric. "Hopefully with the Foxconn deal that's going on, maybe the startup scene will be improving in Milwaukee."
Megan Choy is a junior at the school and planning a career in medical software development.
"I hope to get more girls involved in it too because in my classes, all of my computer science classes there's only been one to two girls," said Choy.
Ryan later praised the district for its efforts.
"What you're doing here is exactly what we're hoping to see done all over the place," he said.
He mentioned the Foxconn deal that Governor Scott Walker officially signed on Monday, saying the jobs students are preparing for now may end up being the jobs Foxconn offers.
He added that they will be impressive careers with good wages.
"We don't want our kids to grow up here thinking I [have to] leave Wisconsin if I want to have the life I want, that is the biggest concern we have right now," he said.
