Life of a Co-op Student!
Anna Wells is a Class of 2026 Senior at Dee-Mack High School who is both going to school for a half-day, and going to work for the other half. This program is called co-op. Dee-Mack offers co-op to seniors who want to be able to come to the school late or leave early and work while they aren’t at school.
Anna’s day starts at 6:30 with her getting up and ready for her school day. She arrives at school close to 8:00am and is at school till 12:17. She then leaves and goes to work at 1pm and works till 5pm. She works at the Eastside Daycare Center here in Mackinaw. When she arrives, she supervises the little’s nap time, does snack time, and then closes the classrooms down. After work, she then goes home, hangs out with family, then calls it a day around 10:30.
She doesn’t think that it is challenging to handle both work and school because her boss lets her do any school work while the kids are napping. She also helps herself handle the workload by checking her schedule at work everyday. She also checks her planner for homework or important school information going on.
She stated that her favorite part of the day is when she is supervising the little kids’ nap. When one child wakes up early before all the other classmates, they then will come sit with her, talk and hangout with her. She really enjoys the one on one time she experiences with this child.
She was asked, “why did you take co-op?” She stated that she took co-op because she wanted longer hours, make money, save up for college, get to become more independent at work, get to go into classrooms, and learn their routines and experience different environments and ages of children.
She likes that she gets to leave school early, go to work, and have opportunities to learn more and advance herself in the career. She was questioned about if there was anything that she would change about the co-op program and she responded that there isn’t anything she would change!
Advice from Anna Wells herself for a senior coming into the program:
“Make sure to get time sheets in on time and have good communication with your boss about the changes with school and its schedule so that there are no experiences that you aren’t able to experience. Carry good grades and don’t over stress yourself by trying to do more than you’re capable of but, enjoy your senior year because it will go by fast.”
When you are thinking about your senior year and doing co-op just keep all things in mind. If you have any questions and see Anna in the halls, stop and ask her. She would be happy to answer your questions!
