Students in the Prosper Career Independent Study, or PCIS class, will be showcasing a presentation to their peers and mentors on December 12 over research they have done this semester.

“The PCIS showcase is to practice for our final presentation night and to display the work that we have already done. It’s a come and go event, so you can come for about 15 to 20 minutes typically and just go around to all the students and hear their presentations, hear their research, and meet their mentors,” PCIS teacher Mrs. Skoyles said.

This showcase is for parents, freshmen, and sophomores to learn more and see what PCIS is doing within the class. Juniors and seniors require a license, car, and must be a certain age to join the class. Students can also go at their own pace, as there are few deadlines.

“As a teacher sometimes it’s like herding cats because I have 20 students, and they are all researching different topics which I have to be interested and knowledgeable about,” Skoyles said. “They’re going to different places everyday all over the city and it’s really hard to get them into one place doing one thing sometimes, but it is controlled chaos. It’s magical.”

This class has been around for three years with Skoyles as teacher and adviser. Her job helps students find mentors, perfect their final presentations, and understand their researched topics, which she also learns about herself.

“It’s a chance for gifted or high achieving students to research a field of study and learn about the career that field of study would lead to,” Skoyles said.  “There’s a lot of reasons to take it. First of all, a lot of my students are already doing this research and so they can get credit for what they are already doing and another reason to do it, is because it looks really good on college applications. So if you are trying to get into an honors program at a state school or really highly competitive elite college, this is a great program for that kind of goal.”