Kayla Guelig, a junior at IDEAS Academy recently wrote a blog about her experiences tutoring kindergarten students through the SASD Youth-Tutoring-Youth Program (YTY). YTY supports students’ exploration of their future goals and helps them with post-secondary planning. In this follow-up blog, Kayla discusses the pre-college TEACH program that she will be attending in summer 2016.

Youth Tutoring Youth has helped me to get out of my comfort zone and is one of the reasons I decided to apply for a summer pre-college program. TEACH is a pre-college program that starts on June 11 and ends on June 25. During my time at TEACH, I will be getting to experience three different colleges. The first week I will be at UW-Stout. I will be going to UW-River Falls for the weekend. The last week I will be staying at UW-Eau Claire. While staying on three different campuses, I will be able to learn about their teaching programs, take college classes, and build leadership skills. The cool thing is that you travel with the same group! You stay with the same teachers, camp counselors and the same students the whole time.

On May 4, 2016, I was accepted into TEACH! I am very excited to be able to learn, have fun and also see what college life might be like. This experience will help me experience campus life, which is something I have been considering. Although I am nervous about being away from home and not knowing anyone else who will be there, I believe that this program will help me grow in my communication skills and my collaboration skills. I will also be able to learn leadership skills!

I am very excited to be accepted into such an amazing program that only cost $15 for everything. I am ready to learn more about being a teacher and building teacher skills that will help me in the future. I can’t wait to get more experience that will help me prepare for life after high school!