Preparing Professionals: North Star students gain valuable insights in preschool practicums

April 9, 2025

As soon as North Star High School students Izzy and Mia walked into Chelsea Waller’s prekindergarten classroom one day this spring, students began crowding around them with smiling faces.
 
“Will you play with me?”
 
“How do you do this?”
 
“I really like having you here.”
 
Izzy and Mia are gaining valuable insights into youth education through a practicum offered in their Preschool/School Age Child class. They began attending Waller’s classroom at Campbell Elementary School in February to soak up knowledge about early childhood education. The immersive experience teaches them how to guide healthy development of children through lessons and activities.
 
Izzy and Mia are both exploring preschool teaching as one of their primary career options. They said their time at Campbell has reinforced how much they love working with young students.

 
“Youth education is really an amazing experience,” Izzy said. “No matter what your mood is, you come here, you interact with these kids and you leave feeling so much better. It’s amazing how much it helps.”
 
“The bonds you make with the kids are pretty incredible,” Mia said. “Sometimes I’ll leave here with little drawings that they’ll make me or little letters that they write. It just makes everything worth it.”
 
Mallory Gregory teaches family and consumer sciences (FCS) courses at North Star and arranged the practicum experiences. Her seven Preschool/School Age Child students are embedded in classrooms at both Campbell and Kooser this semester. She said all of them have commented on how much they have enjoyed working with both children and teachers.
 
“I love getting students out of the classroom and with connected career professionals,” Gregory said. “Not only does it open doors to students, it gives the industry a glimpse of how amazing our future is through these high school students.”
 
Waller said she has been impressed with the enthusiasm Izzy and Mia have shown in her classroom. They began playing with students as soon as they arrived on the first day, and both have written about developmental milestones they have seen the children reach. They have also asked Waller about topics such as classroom management and lesson planning to better help everyone in the room.
 
“They care about them,” Waller said. “They know what they’re interested in, they know what the students want to play with or what child might want to play in a certain area. It works really well with all of them.”

 
Lincoln Public Schools has been offering the Preschool/School Age Child class for 20 years as part of the FCS curriculum. Southwest, Southeast, North Star and Lincoln High all offer practicum experiences for their students.
 
FCS and Health Sciences Curriculum Coordinator Kristin Vest said LPS will begin offering a new Education and Teaching course at all eight high schools this fall. The course will introduce students to career opportunities and related skills in the fields of early childhood education and secondary teaching. All eight schools will include observation-focused practicums in early childhood and elementary classrooms as part of their new courses.
 
The Education and Teaching course will align with newly-adopted state standards and pathways. In addition to providing the same opportunities for students at every high school, the class will also dovetail with the LPS Grow Your Own effort. The initiative focuses on recruiting and developing future teachers from within the LPS community.
 
Waller is an example of how LPS is encouraging people to join the education profession. She was inspired to pursue a teaching degree while working as a paraeducator at Campbell. She has been leading her own prekindergarten classes for the past six years.
 
“This has been my dream job,” Waller said. “It’s why I went back to school to get my bachelor’s degree. I worked as a para in this very classroom, so that was always my dream to get to do that. Coming back and being a teacher in the classroom that I was a para in, it was meant to be.”

 
Waller said the increased demand for prekindergarten services in Lincoln is why it is important to help students like Izzy and Mia explore the profession. LPS currently has early childhood programs at 31 elementary and high school sites. New construction projects are increasing the number of early childhood classrooms to 91, which will allow LPS to serve approximately 1,800 preschoolers.
 
“Our Pre-K program has grown so much that we need more people,” Waller said. “We need people wanting to go into this field, so if I can show them what it’s like and introduce them to this career, then that’s what I want to do.”
 
Mia has five nephews younger than ten years old, and her positive experiences with them prompted her to take the practicum course. Izzy began nannying when she was in seventh grade and continued babysitting for other families in high school. She then became a summer camp preschool teacher at the Fallbrook YMCA, which solidified her early education teaching dreams.
 
Izzy said the Preschool/School Age Child class has given her additional zeal for her future career. She would fully endorse the practicum experience to anyone with the same type of interest in helping the littlest learners.
 
“I’d recommend it. One hundred percent,” Izzy said. “Anyone who has a love for younger children should look into anything with being around kids.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/cte/fcs to learn more about the many early childhood education opportunities available for LPS students.
 
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