Lisa Surraco helps teach and will study neuroscience.
While most Montclair High School seniors are venturing outside of the classroom for their senior option internships, senior Lisa Surraco will be working at Hillside Elementary School with Christina Axelrod as a teaching assistant.
“I’ll be working with children mostly, serving as an assistant teacher,” said Lisa Surraco. “I am also working with the school librarian, who needs help organizing the books and determining their grade level.”
Lisa Surraco’s internship will consist of helping younger students learn and grow in a classroom setting, under the supervision of a main teacher. Although Surraco is unsure of what kind of career she wants to pursue later on in life, she feels as though this internship will be a good stepping stone to finding out what she might be interested in. “I haven’t really found something that I’m passionate about yet, but I think that teaching children will definitely be a good experience to have,” said Surraco. “I like teaching people, and seeing that they finally understand the concepts that you’ve taught them.”
Because Lisa Surraco will be spending so much time in the classroom for her internship, she will be able to put to use the leadership skills she acquired throughout high school. As president of the Spanish club at Montclair High School, Surraco definitely has the skills needed to facilitate a classroom environment.
Christina Axelrod, Surraco’s mentor, is also greatly benefiting from the senior option program. Surraco’s time spent in the classroom allows the younger children to interact with older students, and learn from different perspectives.
Axelrod explained that, “I love participating in the senior option program. It’s wonderful for me, of course, because of the help. It’s wonderful for the kids because they get to interact with an older student in the public schools, something not all of them have an opportunity to do.” She added that, “Lisa is doing very well at Hillside. She is responsible and thorough, and has a natural ease in dealing with both the kids and the staff. The kids really enjoy having her there and she has been a huge help to me.”
Although Lisa Surraco’s internship consists of teaching and assisting children, the career interests that she hopes to pursue in the future seem to be very different. “I’ll be headed to Franklin and Marshall College in the fall, where I hope to study neuroscience,” said Surraco. “I think I want to go into medicine, but I haven’t decided if I want to become a doctor, or stay on the research side of the field.”
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