Kylie Powell has aspirations of becoming an elementary school teacher in the future.

So far after seven weeks, the Montgomery County High School senior is getting a taste of the education world by working as a paraprofessional at Montgomery City Elementary as part of MCHS’ new Registered Youth Apprenticeship program.

“It’s definitely different from high schoolers,” Powell said. “But I like it. It’s fun. They’re so young, they’re still learning and they need people to teach them, so I like teaching them and helping them grow up to be very smart and kind people. I want to make them better and make this world a better place.”

The RYA program prepares students for the real world through a variety of work and classroom experiences and gives them an opportunity to earn a wage. MCHS assistant principal Jessie Cobb is the coordinator of the program, which is in partnership with the Department of Labor.

“I like it so far,” Cobb said. “I wanted to do it in an earlier position I had as a principal in a different (school) down the road, but I kept running into road blocks with the age of 18, insurance and all of these things. Being a program of the department of labor has helped that. They gave me the resources to be able to talk to an employer that they can be 16 if your insurance allows that.”

Cobb said the program was presented to the R-II School Board last year. She visited Troy Buchanan High School to check out its RYA program.

“They’re a much bigger school than we are, but it got me a start,” Cobb said. “So this has always been a dream of mine to figure out how to do apprenticeships. Now, I’m getting traction to figure out how to actually make it work.”

Cobb said the mission of the RYA program is helping students gain valuable work experience while completing their education.

“Our goal is to not necessarily get a kid a job,” she said. ‘“Our goal is to train a kid in a job so they can build upon their skills for something. Kylie wants to be a teacher, so this is a perfect way to get her in a classroom, get her paid, get her experience and meet those competencies and learn lots of things.”

Powell is the first placement of the MCHS RYA program. The senior said she first talked with Cobb about joining the program.

“I think there was another way for my senior year where I could be at the elementary school for more than an hour or so,” Powell said. “So that’s when she worked her magic and put a lot of stuff into place and got me this opportunity. That’s why I’m here because of Mr. Cobb. Ms. Cobb didn’t give up. She wanted to push me because she knew I could do it. I have a lot of other support here at the high school and the elementary school.”

Cobb, who is in her third year as MCHS assistant principal, said participants in the RYA program have to go through an interview process to get a job.

“Every occupation has a different list of competencies,” she said. “So for Kylie to be even available for this position, she had to pass the para practices. That was No. 1 and she did that as a junior. She’s a good student and she shows up to school on time, so it became a natural fit.”

Powell, who plays for the MCHS volleyball team this fall, said all of her life, she always wanted to be a teacher.

“In elementary school, I had good teachers and I wanted to be like them,” Powell said. “I want to make kids want to be at school and have a better life for them. Teachers can tell whenever a kid needs a little extra pushing to push them to do what they can do and know what they can do. Throughout elementary, middle school and high school, I had really good people who pushed me because they know I can do it. They just knew that I could do good things in the world.”

Powell works at MCE from 7:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. every day. Cobb said she’s happy that the senior is taking a big chunk out of her schedule to help out elementary students.

“She’s earning her paycheck,” Cobb said.