Lancaster High School offers a career tech program, Teaching Academy and Childcare, for juniors and seniors who want to pursue a career in education after they graduate from high school.The program exposes high school students to the real world of teaching. LHS students go to the elementary and middle schools in the district and study under the guidance of a full time teacher in the classroom and work directly with young children.
Jennifer Etherington, Teaching Academy and Childcare Program Instructor, described this program as an introduction for high school students who want a career in the field of childcare.
“Exit surveys have been given to students for years. After analyzing the data, we learned that a good percentage of our students were going to college to study education. Therefore, we decided to add an education program to our Career Tech offerings,” she said.
“I try to give them the most realistic placement that could offer them insight, as to what that looks like,” said Etherington.
Daisy Spencer, a senior at LHS, is involved in the TAC program. Working at Thomas Ewing, Mount Pleasant Elementary, and Tarhe Trails, she said she had some realizations about her dreams for the future.
“TAC has taught me how to work with kids and made me realize why I am going into the field I have dreamed about since I was a young child,’’ Spencer said.
She is working with ages three to fourteen years old. Spencer said that working with younger children can be challenging but she has grown from the experience.
“Teaching and working with kids has taught me to be gentle, compassionate, understanding, and kind to all children. After all, all they are are small humans learning how to be a human. They deserve to feel safe and secure with whoever is in charge of them,” Spencer said.
Another LHS senior in the TAC program, Andrea Green said that working with younger kids through TAC has been rewarding on a personal level.
Photo courtesy of Householder.
“Working with and teaching kids has shown me my strengths and weaknesses and knowing what I’m good at and realizing what I need to work on. My level of patience has definitely gotten stronger,” said Andrea Green, another LHS senior in the TAC program.
“It also just makes me so happy to see improvement with the students I work with one on one. I’m glad they’re improving and it makes me feel good that I was a part of that improvement and what I’m doing with them is helpful,” Green said.
Students who participate in TAC said that they are learning to hone various skills that will help them later in life.
“TAC has taught me and made me better at public speaking and talking in front of not only the students when I’m teaching a lesson but also adults when we go to a competition or when I’m presenting something in front of my peers. It has also taught me independence and the importance of it,” Green said.
Before high school students in the TAC program work with the young students, they first learn life saving techniques.
“They have to have first aid, they have to have CPR and AED training they have to have child abuse awareness and prevention training, and communicable disease training we have to do all of that and a background check before they can even go out and start working with children,” Etherington said.
