Upper Schoolers Learn About Themselves While Helping Teach Younger Students

A Winterim program that is very special to OES is the Lower School Intern program. Upper School students are paired with Lower School classrooms for the week, assisting teachers and helping younger students learn. What the Upper Schoolers may not be aware of is how much they will learn themselves.

“Empathy is such a powerful component of this program. There's nothing like being in that classroom scenario, day after day, watching and helping students to learn. In the Lower School, we're learning on every level. Many of our Upper Schoolers go in imagining themselves as helpers in relation to academic learning. For instance, how might they help someone with math problems or social studies? But Lower School is also so much about social emotional learning, and this program helps older students see and empathize with the journey that a Lower Schooler is on, while simultaneously building problem-solving and leadership skills,” said Kristen Haferbecker, all-school community engagement coordinator, who helps coordinate the internship program.

In Lower School classrooms, many classes start the day in a community circle, and the Upper School interns join in this community-building time, listening to the children share and sharing themselves. During the day, they help with everything from math games to reading aloud to helping with research projects. During recess, they are asked to find ways to promote positive play or connect with students who may need a recess partner.

“Recess isn’t just play time; it’s also an intense learning time. To be able to have our Upper Schoolers begin their own understanding of ‘Oh, now that I can reflect back on it as an older self, I can see all the things young people are navigating that are part of school.’ It’s cool for them to have that sort of re-understanding of how it all works, and their place in it, beginning to end,” added Haferbecker.

The interns admitted to being a bit nervous before they joined their Lower School classes, but they found their comfort level increasing as they got used to the children and the daily routines.

“I was feeling great before meeting with pre-K students since I had the experience supporting kids their age, but at the same time, I was worrying if I could handle 13 kids who were born in a different country from me. However, they were [so] very kind and nice that my nervousness disappeared in a day. I really enjoyed learning about birds with them and playing together,” said Temma Y. ‘26.

Two of the students were back for their second year of interning in the Lower School, because they enjoyed their experience last year so much.

Jayda B. ‘26 shared, “This experience has been one to remember because I love working with young children. I appreciated being able to notice different behaviors and look at the strategies that the teachers would use to help with settling down. This was a good opportunity for me because I would like to work with children in the future as a child psychologist, so it was nice being able to get to know the children and understand them on different levels in just a few days. Overall, this was a great experience the second time in a row, I had a blast!”

Jacob S. ‘26 said, “My experience as an intern this year was special and fun. I built relationships with each kid in the classroom by learning their interests and helping them with their individual projects. What was special for me was that last year I had fifth graders, and this year I had third graders. Overall, both experiences taught me a lot when being a mentor and also brought me a lot of joy.”

Maggie Gilbride, Upper School Chinese teacher and a coordinator of the Lower School internship program, said, “It’s so wonderful to see the Upper Schoolers as they move through the week. They start off so nervous like it’s their first day of school. As they move through the week, they really get to see themselves both in a new role as an ‘adult’ and looking back at who they were as younger students. They end the week exhausted but really grateful for the experience.”