Working with younger kids can be such a joy and so trying on your patience. Thirty-three students got to experience this firsthand through the Ready, Set, Teach! Program.

“I want to be a teacher,” junior Jessica Mendiola said. “I love spending time with the kids and watching them learn.”

The students go to Baghdad and Pleasant Hill Elementary Schools and Wiley Middle School and observe the teacher’s teaching. They also help the teachers in any way and teach their own lesson plan to the kids. They visited the schools regularly in the fall, and will start going again in March.

“I’ve learned that the kids’ way of thinking is different from ours,” junior Alex Smith said. “It’s interesting and unique.”

Smith is also the only guy in his class and one of three in the program.

“It mattered a little at first,” Smith said. “It’s kind of natural now, it doesn’t matter as much. I really like going to elementary schools and helping kids.”

The program gives the students experience they need for pursuing a career in education.

“I really recommend it,” Mendiola said. “You get a lot of experience with the kids.”

RST is open to anybody who wants to join and submits an application by the March 5 deadline.

“It’s a really good opportunity for students if they’re interested in a profession in teaching, coaching or counseling,” RST instructor Jessica Thailing said. “It’s a really good hands-on experience at the elementary and middle schools.”