Special to the Herald

Editor’s note: This story is part of an occasional series highlighting senior interns in Cranston Public Schools.

Each week, Christopher McCarthy has the opportunity to intern at Park View Middle School as he explores two different careers in the field of education.

A senior in the Education Pathways program at Cranston High School West and the Cranston Area Career & Technical Center, McCarthy is required to experience a variety of different education internships during his junior and senior years.

This year, he opted to split his Park View experience into two, visiting a sixth-grade computer technology class and a sixth-grade physical education class, as he is interested in teaching in both subjects in the future.

“From early on, I pretty much knew I wanted to be a teacher,” McCarthy said. “I knew I wanted to be a phys ed teacher, but I started enjoying my technology classes, too, and everything that technology has to offer. I decided to also look into tech education.”

As a student who spent his elementary years at Dutemple and middle school years at Park View, McCarthy has done a great deal of volunteering in youth sports over the years, including last year when he helped to coach the fifth-grade basketball team at Dutemple. He enjoys giving back.

“I like coming back and teaching the kids who are now here,” he said. “I remember when I was in their position.”

McCarthy cites all that he has learned in his Education Pathways program as being helpful to him as he completes this year’s internship.

“If I didn’t understand how to make a lesson plan, teaching would be very difficult now,” he said. “My experiences last year were all with younger kids, but it taught me that although that wasn’t the age group I wanted to teach, I can adjust and be flexible, and later if I decide I want to be a technology teacher, I could go down to younger students and be comfortable with it.”

McCarthy and his peers in the Education Pathways program are preparing an in-depth look at their experiences in the form of a portfolio they can take with them after graduation and utilize for college and career needs. Internship teachers must complete assessments of the students working with them, which are included in the portfolio along with any lesson plans, units, case studies and reflections.

When McCarthy arrives in his technology class, he usually helps technology educator Don Lareau with whatever the students are working on at that time.

“I’ve also helped to review the components of a computer to help the students prepare for a quiz,” he said. “I try to be as helpful as I can.”

From there, McCarthy switches gears and heads over to work with physical education teacher and coach Chris Sullivan. He often works with small groups of students learning techniques such as passing the ball, or can be seen leading a group across the field for warm-ups.

“Christopher is very comfortable in this setting. His enthusiasm spills over to the students,” Sullivan said. “In the first two days he was here, he took over his own group. I oversee it, but he jumped right in. He doesn’t sit or wait, he just takes initiative, and you don’t always see that even with student teachers. He’s definitely a natural. He’s always motivating those last kids coming around the track, and he has such solid character for a young kid. He’s got strong leadership abilities.”

When asked who inspired him to go into education, McCarthy did not hesitate to cite his father, John, who is not only a teacher assistant in Cranston Public Schools but has also coached a variety of local youth sports teams as well.

McCarthy recently had to utilize his ability to take initiative when he was taking free online college courses through the Advanced Course Network and Roger Williams University.

“I took Foundations in Education last summer and Urban Education and Community Development this past summer,” he said. “The first one I really loved, and I actually went and met with the professor of the class. The second one was a lot more reading and I was falling behind, but I reached out to the professor and I was able to catch up in the class and I got a better grade because I advocated for myself. A lot of the skills I developed as part of taking these classes are skills I’ll need when I go to college. I had to learn how to manage my schedule, advocate for myself, and I had to be determined.”

McCarthy and his peers in the Education Pathways program also take college credit-bearing classes as part of their program at CACTC. McCarthy will leave with college credits in business and American Sign Language as well as certifications in First Aid and CPR. He also has the option to become a certified teacher assistant.

For more information about the pathways programs available at CACTC, visit cpsed.net/cactc.

Jen Cowart is a communications specialist for Cranston Public Schools.