Getting a jumpstart on their futures, these Rochester high schoolers are dabbling in the professional world

ROCHESTER — Maria Villavicencio Zambrano started working in the Olmsted County Public Defender’s office earlier this year. She consults on cases and sits in on court hearings when she can. She’s contributing to the judicial system that’s impacting the lives of those who have come into contact with the law. Meanwhile, down the road in Rochester, Carson Herr is working in a neurovascular research lab at Mayo Clinic. He works with blood samples and writes manuscript reviews. He’s contributing to the collective body of knowledge that’s being developed at one of the world’s most prestigious medical organizations. At face value, Villavicencio Zambrano and Herr are on very different career trajectories. But they’re both intelligent and ambitious. But their stories have similar starting points. Villavicencio Zambrano’s not an attorney. Nor, for that matter, is she in law school. Herr doesn’t have a medical degree, a doctorate, or even a bachelor’s degree. They’re high school seniors.

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