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What Are Evergreen Alumni Up To? Two Are Interning Here!
January 30th, 2023
For the last several weeks, two 11th-grade alumni have been back at Evergreen, interning with teachers and gaining an entirely new perspective on their old school while learning what it might be like to be a classroom teacher!
Sydney Allen and Jake Redila and are both juniors at The Bush School, where high school students have the opportunity each January to do something out of the ordinary. Rather than regular classes, for a few weeks students participate in options including travel and service programs as well as career-oriented internships, such as opportunities in medicine, design, law, baking and more. Then, when they're all back in school, everyone will participate in panels to learn about their classmates' experiences and takeaways, and to share their own.
This year, Sydney and Jake decided to come here to Evergreen, where Sydney is in Kim Chastagner's French classes working with 4th through 7th grades, and Jake is in a 5th grade classroom with Jane Shay (also a Bush alum).
Trying Out Teaching
Both students are interested in working with kids, of course! And both had some prior experience. At Bush, Sydney is a writing tutor, and she's also volunteered with Teen Talk, a youth health education program. Jake has worked with kids as a hockey and goalie coach, and wanted to see what being in a classroom teaching environment was like.
They've been working as instructional assistants in their respective classes, teaching parts of lessons and helping groups of students with their work. Sydney's had the chance to help wtih grading and leading some activities, and Jake is winding up his time by teaching a full-class lesson on strategies for emotional regulation and ways to calm yourself when needed. He's also built on his time taking Mandarin at Evergreen by helping teach in a few of Shufen's Mandarin classes.
Takeaways from Evergreen
When asked to consider how their Evergreen education has impacted them since graduating, Jake and Sydney shared their different experiences, but there were clear similarities.
Jake began Evergreen with Seedling, the school's daycare program for children too young for preschool, and continued all the way through 8th grade. On reflection, he thinks that such an extended association with Evergreen helped him build relationships and communication skills. Over time, as some friends inevitably left the school while new students joined, he says learned to navigate transitions and shifts and build new relationships, while at base, Evergreen was always there for him. "It cemented my roots," he said.
Sydney, on the other hand, arrived at Evergreen in 6th grade, but she remembers feeling very welcomed from the beginning, even though many students had already been at the school for years. She thinks this has helped make her aware of deliberately welcoming people in new situations, and being open.
So, What's Teaching Like?
Both students said they've had fun and learned a lot! Here are some of their top tips:
- Be Flexible! Sometimes, the planned lesson just isn't working out, but if you're paying attention and listening to the students, you can figure out a different way to go with the lesson.
- Timing Is Key: Sometimes you have to make things up on the spot if you find you have extra time, or keep track of time to make sure you get to all the parts of an activity.
- Kids Are Fun (and Ask Random Questions): It might be right in the middle of a lesson, but what students want to know is if Bush has a video game room, or if Jake is really a high school junior. ("They can sometimes be unconsciously ruthless!" he said.) But both Sydney and Jake said that students clearly enjoyed having an older alum on hand in the classroom to get to know for a few weeks!
