my @errors;
my %app;
$app{"first_name"} = param('first_name');
# $app{"first_name"} = "test_value";

if (request_method() eq "POST") {
    my $first_name_check = &check_name($app{"first_name"});
    unless ($first_name_check == "1") {
        $app{"first_name"} = "";
        push (@errors, "First Name: ".$first_name_check);
    }
}

sub print_application {
    # do some stuff with %app and @errors...
}