The Tiny Tigers Logo is so cute! Photo Courtesy of Tiny Tigers advisor Kristi Burleson. 

  San Luis Obispo High School’s preschool program, Tiny Tigers, gives students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with preschool-aged children while learning what goes into making a classroom operational.  

  “The preschool is an awesome opportunity to learn how to do hands on childcare, as well as learning about teacher preparation, paperwork, and all the planning that goes into making a school run. You also get to work with the preschoolers in lots of different areas,” said Tiny Tigers advisor Kristi Burleson. 

  Through this program, students get to learn skills they otherwise wouldn’t be able to learn in a traditional classroom setting. 

  “I learned a lot like how to interact with kids and how to talk to them and help them learn,” said junior Scarlet McBride.

  For some students the program is a stepping stone into future career goals.

  “It gives good experience for like, future jobs, because I really want to work with children in the future, so that kind of helps with learning the teaching style,” said senior Presley Akey. 

  While the Tiny Tigers Program gives students who want to major and pursue careers in related fields hands-on experience at the high school level, you don’t have to have any prior experience with kids, nor a plan to pursue a career with children in the future to be a Tiny Tigers Teacher. 

  “I am always looking for high schoolers who are fun and energetic and love to do fun things because they make amazing Tiny Tiger Teachers,” said Burleson. 

  Students have to meet certain requirements before working directly with the preschoolers including being at least fifteen years of age along with taking the Introduction to Child Development course. 

  “The first class is the Introduction to Child Development class, its pretty much just research and learning about children from prenatal until the age of about five … the second through fifth class [Intermediate and Advanced Child Development] are hands on learning. You’ll have different assignments and different levels of responsibility given to you each day,” said Burleson. 

  Once a student completes all five classes, the earn the Tiny Tigers CTE (Career Technical Training) pathway, structured to gradually increase student responsibility. 

  “I’m hoping to learn more about careers in child development, because I’m doing a whole project on that this trimester, and to be more of a leader,” said McBride. 

  The Tiny Tigers Program continues to attract students interesting in gaining real responsibility at the high school level in a structured, supervised, and educational environment.