It’s hard to believe we’re entering the final two days of our summer enrichment programs. From the hundreds of children who walked through our doors, to the dozens of staff and student helpers that made it all possible, it was yet another team effort all around. Whether it was learning a brand-new building in 6th grade, or exploring the world of math in Kindergarten, we’re confident our students are beginning the school year enriched, confident, and prepared.
This year, our elementary summer enrichment program, lead by Michelle Sherwood, welcomed nearly 200 children each day, with roughly 80 staff members making it all possible. Among those, were more than 50 high school student workers. Working with children, they gained employment experience, while some even got a jumpstart on potential future teaching careers.
Sophomore Kaylee Moyer is one of the many high school students considering a career working with children.
“They’re really joyful. A lot of times they bring a lot of humor and it’s really good to be around them, and I just like teaching them how to be better,” said Moyer.
Eryn McCoy, a senior, also has a love for teaching. She plans to go to college for Music education, with the goal of working with elementary and middle school students.
“I absolutely love it. I’ve never worked in a classroom before, so even only having these kids for a week so far, you make such personal connections. It’s so fun to watch them grow in such a short period of time in getting them ready for the next chapter in their life,” said McCoy.
Student workers move from class to class, working with children in everything from physical education units to science classes. Hailee Tinder, a junior, has come back year after year to work in the summer enrichment program.
“It’s just nice to interact with the kids and get to know them and be a part of their summer. It was nice to come back and have some of those same kids and see how they’ve grown and just watch them interact with their friends and learn things,” said Tinder.
But it’s not just current students who are spending their summer working in the program.
Danielle Edwards, a 2019 M-E graduate has been working summer enrichment since 2017. What started as a summer job, followed with a new love for teaching. Today, she’s working toward her master’s in education at Liberty.
“The connections with the kids brought me back, and it’s crazy to see some of the kids in 3-4 I had in kindergarten, and they keep coming back, so they’re getting something out of it, and I’m getting something out of it as well,” said Edwards.
Megan Balmer also graduated in 2019 and now has a dual certification in general education and special education from Cortland. She starts her master’s program in the fall, and says working summer enrichment only solidified the fact that she wanted to be a teacher.
“Every single year, I’ve been getting different experiences, and I just know I want to work with kids, and I love helping them learn and grow and have fun,” said Balmer.
Giovanna Battaglini, who just graduated in June, will also study education at Cortland. Like many of her peers, she caught the teaching bug early, and credits her work in the program leading her down a good path.
“Watching myself help them through the different obstacles they go through, and the problems they have, it’s really shown me what I really like to do. It’s really taught me a lot about myself and why I’m going into this,” said Battaglini.
Along with working in classrooms, student workers helped with clerical work in the district office, custodial, maintenance, and more.