As many changes have been made this year at Camas High School (CHS), the Child Development (CD) Internship Class has been a part of the alterations. This class now offers the opportunity not only to enroll as an intern at the Papermaker Preschool (PMP) but at The Heights Learning Center as well.
In previous years, the CD Internship Class has solely been working with the preschoolers in the PMP, until now. This year and going forward, students will navigate a two-week rotation of collaborating with teachers in the PMP and The Heights. Typically, the course only permitted about three students to enroll in each CD class period. This modification ensures that more students are accepted into the course and reduces the number of people being declined due to capacity.
“I’m very limited to how many [students] I can take for a second year and I always have to turn students away,” CHS CD teacher Jill Fuller said. “It’s been a real bummer that I can’t offer the PMP intern opportunity to more students because we’re limited with how many can go in there.”
Derek Jaques, CHS Career Technical Education (CTE) director and assistant superintendent, encouraged Fuller to tackle this adjustment for the 2025-2026 school year. Once the concept was pitched to the staff at The Heights, everyone began planning a scheduled cycle for the students. Each CD intern class period now allows up to eight students. Four students will spend the period in the PMP and the other four will spend the period in The Heights.
“We decided to kind of pilot a program where I’m taking more than twice as many students — up to eight for each one of my four class periods,” Fuller said. “They’re doing a two-week rotation, so two weeks down [in The Heights], where they’ll have a classroom they’re assigned to, so they can get to know the teacher and the teacher’s learning style, and get to know the students, and then they’ll be back up here (PMP) for two weeks.”
Jackson Rhoads, a sophomore CD intern at CHS, describes the differences between PMP and The Heights.
“There are a lot more kids down at The Heights and you feel like you’re a better help down there,” Rhoads said. “There are a lot more kids down there with special needs and disabilities, so I learn just as much as they learn from me.”
Fuller expressed that the leadership role students must take on as an intern is crucial. Since interns have more experience under their belt, the expectation is that they know when to jump into a situation without being asked. An additional part of this responsibility is to begin each CD lab day by explaining the stations for the preschoolers and CHS students, such as art and literacy, gross motor, and dramatic play.
Towards the end of the year, Fuller mentioned she will reassess this change with the staff in both preschools.
“I will do some reevaluating with some surveys with the students, staff at The Heights, and up here at PMP before forecasting happens next year,” Fuller said.
Josie Crouse, a junior CD intern at CHS, revealed her enjoyment in assisting the classrooms in The Heights.
“I like being in The Heights. It’s a different environment than PMP, but it’s a lot of fun,” Crouse said.
Fuller is delighted to know that the interns are getting more hands-on experience when spending time in two different preschools.
“We just started [integrating students], but I know the staff down there is really enjoying having the extra hands and getting a chance to interact with the high school students,” Fuller said.
