All grown up: former preschoolers return

Students who attended the Maine South preschool have their former preschool teacher again in high school

Caitlin Vengazo Entertainment Editor

It’srare that someone outside of your close friends and family gets to watch you grow through multiple stages of life. In her 26 years at Maine South, however, Ms. Christiana Joyce has had this experience with multiple students through the preschool program.

The preschool program allows four-year-olds in the community to attend preschool at Maine South, and junior and senior students are taught and trained how to be their teachers through the Preschool Practicum class. Although she does not currently teach it, Ms. Joyce taught the preschool program for 22 years, but she does not take credit for its achievements.

“The program is very successful, and it’s not because of me or Ms. Melinauskas, who teaches it now; it’s because of the high schoolers,” Ms. Joyce said.

Ms. Joyce calls these students “teachers” to establish authority and responsibility in the classroom.

“I told the students, ‘We’re going to call you teachers because that’s what the preschoolers are going to see you as, and I want the parents to understand that you’re not just a high school student—you’re their child’s teacher,’” Ms. Joyce said. “When you call a student a teacher, they tend to take more ownership, and that was the big thing: we wanted high schoolers to take ownership of the program.”

Ms. Joyce enjoys watching relationships form between the preschoolers and the preschool teachers.

“It’s not so much me with the four-year-olds; it’s watching the high schoolers with the four-year-olds,” Ms. Joyce said. “The preschoolers just worship the high schoolers. It’s a perfect fit, and it’s been an absolute joy all these years.”

Sophomore Katie Barker can still remember the great time she had in the preschool program over ten years ago.

“I remember every day I would have so much fun with all of the different high schoolers that were teaching us,” Barker said. “I don’t even know why; it was just so much fun, and I would totally recommend it.”

Since Ms. Joyce taught the preschool program for so many years, she now occasionally teaches former preschool students as high schoolers.

“I would say I usually had about 16 preschoolers, and I probably have 10-15% of them as high school students,” Ms. Joyce said.

Freshman Blythe Ellsworth, who takes Early Childhood Development with Ms. Joyce, is one of these former preschool students.

“As a preschooler, I always looked up to the high schoolers and thought [high school] was so far away,” Ellsworth said. “Now, being here, walking through the halls, I sometimes see the preschoolers, and it’s so weird how the situation flips.”

Despite the number of students she has taught and the time that has gone by, Ms. Joyce always remembers her preschool students.

“I kept the preschoolers’ applications from every year I taught it, and sometimes when I have somebody in my class, I will look them up and show them the application their parents did when they were in the preschool,” Ms. Joyce said. “It’s fun going back and remembering them. They were cute—four-yearolds are the best age.”

After having sophomore Kate Dunleavy in the preschool class when Dunleavy’s sister Jaclynn (‘13) was a preschool teacher in 2011, Ms. Joyce has influenced Dunleavy, who is now in her Early Childhood Development class, to become a preschool teacher in the upcoming school year.

“When I was in preschool, I thought the high schoolers were so cool, so I want to be that role model because of Ms. Joyce showing that opportunity to me and my sisters so long ago,” Dunleavy said.

Ms. Joyce will be retiring this year, but her passion and devotion to her career remain inspiring to her students.

“I was always thinking about being a teacher as a kid,” Ellsworth said. “Seeing how much fun [Ms. Joyce] has, you can tell she really enjoys her job and that she loves what she does. I think I would love to have a job that I enjoy going to like she does.”

That relationship and understanding that Ellsworth witnessed is what makes it all worth it to Ms. Joyce.

“I like preschooolers—preschoolers are awesome—but I love high schoolers,” Ms. Joyce said. “You get to build a relationship with them…I get to come to school every day and my classes are great; who could ask for more?”