Student Works With Children To Sharpen Skills Needed To Become a Nurse

Editor’s note: the following was submitted by Sequoyah High School student Sarah Thompson

Because of her dream of becoming a pediatric nurse, Sequoyah High School senior Kayla Stark decided that working with kids for her senior project would be beneficial for her future career.

This resulted in her decision to teach first-grade Sunday school each week as her senior project. This experience gave her the opportunity to work with kids on a weekly basis and in retrospect of her decision, Kayla is very pleased with the way her project turned out.

“I love being with kids; it prepares me to speak publicly, especially since I’m teaching every week,” Kayla said.

Before her senior project, Kayla’s experience with children came from babysitting on a regular basis, but after exposure to the classroom setting, her love for working with children only grew stronger.

“I enjoy when the kids are engaged, when they ask questions and when they laugh,” she added.

Kayla had to go through particular training in order to be able to be a Sunday school teacher. She was required to take an eight-hour class in order to even be certified. Her project facilitator, Cindy McFadden, was the teacher of her class. Now, she teaches from 8:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. each Sunday morning at her own church, Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Alpharetta.

Discussing the timeline of her project, Kayla said, “I started in late August and I’ll be doing it until the end of May.”

Although Kayla enjoys her students and they keep the work interesting, the job isn’t always a piece of cake.

“The hardest part would be organizing the lesson plans prior to teaching them because I have to read it all and figure out what activities to do so that the kids will enjoy it, understand it and learn from it,” the student said.

Kayla is proud of the work she’s done on her senior project. She believes it has many benefits for her as a student, especially as she goes into an educational pathway that will lead her to her future career.

“It’s going to strengthen abilities and skills that I have and help me learn skills that I will be able to use in my future career, or something else [that is] important,” she said.

Through the months that she has been teaching, Kayla has developed a bond with the students that she teaches. She loves having the opportunity to teach them more information about something she believes in.

When talking about how her children respond to her lessons, she said, “The stuff they can come up with surprises me.”

Photo credit: Patch file