Lansdowne High School students teach preschoolers

"You learn from them and how they act. It's very interesting," said the 17-year-old.

Perrigan, an Arbutus resident, is in the Child Development II class.

She said she loves teaching the preschool students because it adds real-life experience to the things she learns in the classroom.

"You see how their development changes," Perrigan said. "You see how they can start talking better, how they start making eye contact with you, how they physically react with you."

Perrigan said she is considering a career in elementary education because she finds teaching rewarding.

"Here, when you're teaching them, and they're laughing and they're having fun while you're teaching them, and you can tell they're learning by how they react ... it's just, it's awesome," Perrigan said.

Classmate Lisa Cave serves as a student intern for Happel during the preschool program, having already completed both child development classes. She said she plans to use what she's learned to pursue a career in either elementary education or owning her own day care business.

The Lansdowne resident, said her skills have grown over the years, and she now feels confident in her teaching abilities.

"I'm probably more confident in my lessons," she said. "I know how the children act. I know how the lessons are supposed to be, so I know how to piece them together and think of ideas."

Cave, 17, said that seeing a breakthrough with a student who may have been struggling before is the most rewarding part of teaching.

She recalled how one student was extremely shy and had trouble adjusting to coming to school each day.

"He would always burst out crying whenever his mom left," Cave said.

"One morning, I had to take him after he was crying. We got to talking ... (and I) got him calm," she said.

"He actually participated in a lesson. He laughed. He talked. And from then on, every time he'd see me, he'd start trying to start up a laugh, make a joke. It was really cute," she said.

About 90 students in three Child Development I classes and one Child Development II class share the responsibility of creating the daily lesson plans, Happel said.

Each class is divided into groups where one group teaches, one group observes and one group works on lesson plans each week.

By participating in the program, high school students can, "obtain their 90-hour daycare certificate, fulfill six articulated credits with the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), and/or acquire additional community service credits toward their graduation requirement," according to a county press release.

The spring preschool session, which began Feb. 25, will run Mondays through Thursdays until May 9.

Interested parents can pick up registration packets from Lansdowne High School for the fall session during regular school hours.