NORFOLK, Va.— A college student is going back to grade school - not taking classes, but helping teach them.
Alyssa Liang is interning at St. Pius X Catholic School in Norfolk to help make sure everyone stays safe.
“I was waiting for this semester to do an internship and all of a sudden, we just went online,” Liang said.
The school created an internship for the public health major to put her skills to good use while her campus is closed for the semester. She’s bringing new ideas to improve in-person learning during the pandemic and helping educate students about how to follow CDC guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When Alyssa came in, it was like heaven sent me an angel, because we had so many things that we had to cover,” said school nurse Sharon Pile.
She had her first classroom presentation with a group of fourth-graders.
Outside of the classroom, she’s working closely with the school nurse to help implement changes to everything from recess to school dismissal.
“We’ve gone through to each and every classroom to make sure the distance between the students is working, and we’ve started working on a lot of the booklets in here and things that would be beneficial for the teachers,” Pile said.
Liang says the internship is helping her appreciate the policy side of public health by allowing her to brainstorm ideas for implementing safe practices at the school. Everyone gets to reap the rewards of a job well done.
