Is having high schoolers run a preschool a positive concept, or a negative one? 

At Elkhart High School, there is a six-week program where students get to run a preschool. The preschool is held by the Early Childhood Development classes within the school, educating future caregivers in a real-life way. For those who don’t have a place to take their kids during the day, the preschool could also be a great solution. The preschoolers participate in a host of activities during the day, including a mix of learning activities and fun activities.

The first day at the preschool went exceedingly well. The kids learned about rainbows and colors. “It’s fun to help them learn and to do it in an entertaining way,” Kadence Welles says. Welles is a sophomore at Elkhart High School, and she is one of the many students helping with the preschool. Each day they do new hands-on activities to make sure the kids are engaged in what they are learning–including a “field trip” to the front of the school explore emergency fire equipment and and meet the personnel up close.

However, there are certain things that the organizers are hoping these preschoolers won’t learn in a high school setting, too. Thus, organizers try to ensure that their movement around the building is limited–and definitely not during regular passing periods. “We stay in the class most of the time,” states Welles. “But, when we aren’t in the room, it’s not when a bunch of other people are in the halls.” They only leave the classroom a few times a day, and it isn’t during passing periods for the rest of the school, so hearing profanity or other unacceptable behavior is unlikely. 

Although there is a possibility that not all will go as planned, this program truly offers a real-world experience for high schoolers interested in pursuing a career working with kids. For the preschoolers themselves, it is an ideal way to learn the necessary skills to enter kindergarten on track–and it also provides them with a unique opportunity to make new friends and learn social skills along the way.