At Right Start Academy,  University students have turned into teachers.

At the academy, an educational daycare program, University students help teach the children of people attending the Classic City Performance Learning Center to finish high school or get their GED. 

Tiffany Smith, a University student from Bainbridge, and Michele Little, a University student from Suwanee, work at Right Start for class credit.

Smith said she was hesitant about teaching at Right Start at first but quickly appreciated what the program was trying to accomplish.

About 24 kids are on the list for enrollment at Right Start, but the number of children in a class on a given day varies.

Janie Voss, the lead teacher at Right Start, began teaching at the academy three years ago when she transferred from teaching Pre-K at Gaines Elementary School. 

The children at Right Start range in age from 4 months to 4 years. Though the age range in the classroom seems daunting, she believes it has turned out to be one of the advantages of the program.

“At first we were like, ‘Oh my goodness,’ but we’ve really learned to love it,” said Voss. “My parapro does more babies, and I do the older ones. It’s like that’s your bag, and this is mine, and that works really well.”

Smith said the age range could even be beneficial.

“It seems like the younger ones can learn from the older ones,” Smith said.

 And the children aren’t just there to play. 

Parents consistently give positive feedback, and Voss sees this as directly related to the academy’s emphasis on learning.

“Their favorite things are that we’re based as an educational setting,” Voss said. “With the ‘1-2-3 Read’ program that we do, our own standards, and the Georgia Early Learning Standards, they realize that the kids aren’t here to just hang out.”

All of the kids at Right Start are eligible for free or reduced lunch, which they receive from a nearby school. 

The food includes such items as sandwiches, nachos and chicken wings, which the teachers have to cut up to make easier for the children. 

Students at Classic City have to provide their own lunches by packing their own, going off-campus or purchasing something from the in-house Jittery Joe’s. Students run the coffee shop for credit in a class on entrepreneurship.

Smith and Little mentioned the importance of the in-class “foster grandparents,” mostly retirees who receive a stipend for helping out in the classroom through the Georgia Council on Aging. 

Maxine Love, who participates in the program and ran her own daycare for four years, said her experience with children could contribute to the Right Start classroom.

“I am a grandmother, so I thought that I could come out and make myself active and helpful,” Love said.

At the end of the day the children participate in fun activities.

Little turned on the CD player and the kids danced to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” They jumped around, spun in circles and kicked their feet out to the music. Voss and Smith brought over two girls from their classroom across the hall to join in, and despite a few arguments over a toy microphone, they all seemed to have a good time.

“Students with young parents, they don’t get the opportunity to interact with peers,” said Smith. “They get to encounter more education when they come here, and I can see that this interaction really helps them a lot.”