It’s a long-standing Prospect tradition for seniors to choose a childhood backpack. However, for senior Julia Ullegue, who has a Wild Kratts backpack, this tradition felt even more nostalgic due to the fact that she was headed to an elementary school.

Ullegue went to her Education (Ed.) Academy placement at Westgate Elementary School in Arlington Heights for the first time on Sept. 18 and was immediately hit with a flurry of excitement from students who also liked Wild Kratts.

“It was so funny to me, and exciting, because I watched this show so much as a kid, and I think it’s nice that I can still bond with the students, who are seven years old,” Ullegue said.

Ed. Academy is a course offered at Prospect that allows seniors in the Education and Training pathway to get experience in actual classrooms. The students have class during fourth period, and, once a week, they use that time to go to a placement at an elementary or middle school.

Students start by observing those classrooms for a few weeks. Then, at their own pace, they generally transition to working with smaller groups of kids. By the end of each semester, they teach a lesson to the entire class.

Students are told to dress as if they are teachers in order to help differentiate themselves from the younger kids. Ullegue has been enjoying thrifting and putting outfits together for her placement. One of her favorite thrift finds was a black sweater with embroidered monkeys and bananas in a tree.

“It’s so cute — I saw it, grabbed it, put it in my cart and was like, ‘That is mine,’” Ullegue said. “I have quite the whimsical, colorful teacher wardrobe ready.”

Looking the part is only one indicator of the excitement that students feel towards their new role as teachers. Erik Hodges teaches the Ed. Academy class and appreciates the opportunity to foster this enthusiasm.

“It’s energizing to feel their excitement about becoming teachers,” Hodges said. “I think that teachers are incredibly important people in a young person’s life, and I like being able to help be a part of the process because these kids will be very important to students in their future.”

English teacher Brittany Damerjian, member of the PHS Class of 2017, went through the Ed. Academy program during her senior year and credits it with helping her discover what would be her future career.

“When I was going into Ed. Academy, I had a feeling that maybe [teaching] was what I wanted to do, but being a part of Ed. Academy really helped me see that it was for sure what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Damerjian said. “I really think I learned my passion for teaching during my time there, and I think Ed. Academy really helped me push into exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

While Hodges appreciates the way that this program can provide a step into teaching, he thinks it can be equally important for students to figure out that they don’t want to become teachers.

“Every year, I usually have one kid who goes through this program, and at the end of the school year, they’re like, ‘Teaching isn’t for me,’” Hodges said. “They’re afraid to tell me that, and I’m like, ‘No, that’s great, because now you didn’t waste all this time in college going through these programs to not want to do this. You’ve actually found out now, and you can start college going a different direction.’ I think that’s really valuable.”

For Ullegue, the best part of being in Ed. Academy is getting to spend time with the younger students.

​​“I’m just so excited to get to know the kids more and spend time with them,” Ullegue said. “I think kids are so fun, and I think this is going to be a really good opportunity for me to create a bond with the students and become another figure that they can go to for help if they need it.”

Ullegue spends her time in Lisa Smorczewski’s second grade classroom at Westgate. Smorczewski thinks that having a high school student in the classroom helps to motivate her students.

“They’re very excited to see her, and she’s definitely a very positive, bright spot to the day,” Smorczewski said. “When she comes in, they’re like, ‘Can I go work with her?’”

Smorczewski also thinks that having Ullegue in the room simply allows her students to get more instructional time than they would if Ullegue weren’t there.

“The kids benefit because it is also individual attention that they are receiving from somebody else in the room,” Smorczewski said. “When she takes a group of students, she is giving those students that one-on-one attention that I might not be able to give to them at that time, so they are thriving.”

In Hodges’ opinion, the biggest struggle for Ed. Academy students is building confidence. However, they work on this by practicing teaching lessons to their peers in class and using those experiences as a tool to become more comfortable in a teaching position.

For senior Shea Lewis, who also has an Ed. Academy placement at Westgate, this practice has been especially crucial for him when he ends up in unexpected situations.

“You learn how to respond when things in the classroom don’t go your way,” Lewis said. “You can’t yell and raise your voice. You have to try to understand where [students] are coming from. Politely talk to them, maybe on the side, not shaming them.”

Lewis has seen his Ed. Academy experiences translate to other aspects of his life, as well.

“I’d never really been in a teaching setting where I’m the leader, so I think it’s really cool to get that firsthand experience,” Lewis said. “It also connects to football. Sometimes I’ll have to address the team, and that’s kind of hard, but this helps.”

Ullegue’s placement has also helped her gain confidence, but she noted that it originally  didn’t come easily to her.

“It’s OK to be scared,” Ullegue said. “I think it can be scary because you’re not the same age as [the teachers] and they have a lot more training in education than you do, but I realized that you just have to really be yourself, let your personality shine through and be as exciting, supportive and willing to learn as you can be, because then they will be really excited to work with you.”

As the teacher of these Ed. Academy students, Hodges always finds himself impressed by their growth in confidence by the end of the year.

“You see confidence, and you see their ability to understand the learning process,” Hodges said. “All of a sudden, I see them stand up there, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that was a really great lesson.’ [They’re] super nervous and by the end of the year, they don’t have that anymore.”

In Damerjian’s opinion, choosing to join Ed. Academy is one of the best decisions that a student interested in teaching can make.

“If you’re considering joining Ed. Academy, I would stop considering, and I would do it,” Damerjian said. “I think it is such a powerful tool to be able to either help you decide what you want to go into in the future or to prepare you for a lot of the experiences when you’re in college and during your first couple of years of teaching. Without Ed. Academy … I wouldn’t have felt so ready to be in the classroom and to learn more.”

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