Among a group of wiggly kindergartners, Bellingham High School senior Ivan Gomez sits at the low tables, helping kids stay on task and providing support to teacher Anna Whelan at Assumption Catholic School.
He passes out papers covered with scribbles and chats with the students, filled with the vibrant energy that most high school students and adults lack at 9 a.m. He helps them keep their “listening ears” on and ignore the brightly colored plastic eggs sitting in front of them, ready for the next craft.
“They have a different environment than any other grade because they’re new in school,” Gomez said. ” They’re always excited to learn, and they make everything exciting.”
Gomez is one of around 80 high school students from Bellingham Public Schools who spend two mornings a week in elementary and middle school classrooms around the city to help younger students, provide aid to teachers and learn what it takes to be an educator. Gomez said this experience has solidified his desire to be a teacher.
Bellingham High School junior Andrew Murdoch helps Assumption Catholic School seventh graders measure the volume of the baptismal font in the church March 30. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
The Bellingham district is wrapping up its fifth year with its Teacher Academy program, a career and technical education for students interested in an education career.
“It’s an exploration in education, giving the kids a chance to maybe give back to the community, but also to explore the career in education, teaching, coaching, administration, and see if that’s something that they might want to pursue in college,” said Lori French, the Teacher Academy teacher at Bellingham High School.
Students travel all over Bellingham to intern in classrooms, work one-on-one with students who might need extra support and, occasionally, teach their own lessons.
When high school students aren’t completing their classroom internships, they meet in their classrooms at Bellingham, Sehome and Squalicum to learn the fundamentals of education and how to work with younger children. They learn teaching strategies and how to write lesson plans. They hold discussions and do presentations on the complicated topics and controversies they may face if they pursue a career in education.
In a class at Sehome High School on March 31, teacher Mary Hooker led students through a conversation on book bans and the impacts they have on schools. Students discussed examples of banned books, why people wanted different stories banned or censored, and the implications of banning.
Sehome High School Teacher Academy Teacher Mary Hooker talks with students about their experiences in the classroom March 31. (Hailey Hoffman/Cascadia Daily News)
“What do you think about the content of libraries at elementary school or high school, and what do you think about the parental part? You know, controlling what kids read and what do you think about this question?” Hooker said to students as she led them through a presentation.
Students receive high school credit and college credit for taking the course. If students make the decision to go to college and earn a degree in education, the school district guarantees a job interview for them after they earn their teaching degree, French said.
A specific track of Teacher Academy is also offered for bilingual students to encourage their involvement in schools and provide additional support to students who might be new to speaking English. The program aligns with the main goal of Recruiting Washington Teachers — to raise up a “diverse group of future teachers who more closely reflect the population of today’s children and youth.”
In the 2021–22 school year, 87% of teachers in Washington state and 92% in Bellingham were white. In comparison, BIPOC students accounted for 50% of enrollment statewide and 34% in Bellingham.
Bilingual students Antonio Lopez from Bellingham, and Nayeli Arreola Martinez and Analeigha Garza from Sehome work in classrooms with Spanish speakers and students who recently immigrated to the U.S.
Lopez, who interns at Sunnyland Elementary School, said the twins he works with recently started writing full sentences in Spanish. Garza also works with an elementary student who recently immigrated and said she’s impressed by how smart the student she works with is. The pair have created a strong bond.
Arreola Martinez, who works with middle school students, said she didn’t learn to speak English until the second grade and hopes to become a teacher to support young students who were like her.
“It was hard because I wouldn’t understand the teacher well or the students. I would feel like an outsider most of the time in elementary school,” Arreola Martinez said. “I wish I had someone to be able to talk to and communicate.”
Both Lopez and Arreola Martinez plan to be teachers after graduating high school and to use their language skills to provide additional support to multilingual learners.
Students are able to enroll in Teacher Academy at all three high schools, including Squalicum with Angelica Garcia.
A previous version of this story misreported the percentage of BIPOC students in Bellingham Public Schools. They account for 34% of the student body, not 44%. This story additionally misspelled Nayeli Arreola Martinez’s last name and confused details of the stories of Arreola Martinez and Analeigha Garza. The story has been updated to reflect these changes and clarify students’ stories at 12:12 p.m. on April 14, 2023. The Cascadia Daily News regrets this error.
