Many high school students wish they could return to the days of recess and snack time. For Salix Martin, this is all part of the daily routine.

Martin is a junior at Carlisle High School. They are actively participating in the three-year Child Care and Early Childhood Education Program provided by CHS’s Career and Technical Education Department. 

Martin chose to go into the CTE program because of their past experiences. 

“Most of my life I’ve worked around children,” Martin said. “I spent 5 years volunteering at a library with a children’s program down in Chincoteague, Virginia.”

Martin’s favorite activity to do with the children is math. 

“I want to be a math teacher,” Martin said. “I also like music [activities] because I like to sing and enjoy giving them songs for easy learning.”

Martin is looking forward to their senior year with the program.

“When you’re an EC 3 student, and you’ve been through all 3 years of the program, you can go actually to different schools,” Martin said. “Most students go to preschools or kindergartens. I’m actually gonna do half [of my time] at the middle school Lamberton and the other half here with math classes.”

Martin plans to continue their focus on education after high school. 

“I will probably go to Shippensburg University for Math Education,” Martin said. “I am thinking about teaching middle school or high school.”

Martin believes that the Child Care and Early Childhood Education Program is helping them with this process.

“[The program] is giving you what you’re gonna be doing outside of school […] like lesson plans,” Martin said. 

Martin also has an eye on the future of their preschool students.

“When we have graduation for the kids and make them all separate awards […], we get them laminated from up here [the library] and it’s just a good time,” Martin said. “We serve cupcakes and juice, their parents come in, and it’s basically all free play on the playground for 2 hours. It’s very nice, I enjoy it a lot.”