Junior Lily Over never planned on being a teaching assistant.

Before Science Department Chair Mr. Kyle Voge asked her to be a TA, Over spent the period in iStudy. Now she spends it helping freshmen Physics students with two other assistants.

“I basically just help anyone who needs help around the classroom with physics,” Over said. “I get a worksheet and I work it out with them, and I’m assigned to a table group, and it’s really fun getting to know everyone.” 

La Salle’s Teacher Assistant course is an elective that some students can take, where instead of a more conventional class, a student is assigned a specific teacher for one semester and assists that teacher with whatever is needed. This is not to be confused with the Educational Assistant Program, where students go to different classrooms to help with learning and which formally began at the beginning of the school year.

Sophomore Ellie Tomac, who works in the same class period as Over, was recruited the exact same way as her junior counterpart. 

“I had iStudy, but Mr. Voge came to me because he said a lot of kids in the second period class were struggling, and so he needed an extra TA in that class,” she said. “I just switched over from iStudy to being a teacher assistant.”

Tomac, for the most part, walks around the classroom and answers questions, and says he finds the experience rewarding. 

“When I’m actually able to help someone … it just makes me feel good,” she said. “It makes me remember physics more, and then it feels good to help other people.”

Mr. Voge, who has six TAs across three periods, including Over and Tomac, is highly appreciative of the program.

“Teaching a room full of 25 to 30 ninth graders, there’s always more than one kid that wants my attention, that wants help at one time,” he said. “So having two or three other — maybe not quite adults — but two or the three non-freshmen in the room, it really takes the wait time off.”

For senior Adina Dominitz, being a TA for science teacher Mr. Matthew Owen involves less interaction with students and more clerical work like labeling glassware or gathering supplies for labs.

“It doesn’t have to be his job to find all the beakers and put them all in the right spots,” she said. “I can do that while he does more important things, like teaching his classes.”

Mr. Owen is appreciative for exactly these reasons, saying that “it really [helps] me to streamline a lab that’s coming up then the next day or later in the week, and gives me some more free time to then be available to students before or after school and use my preps more effectively to create lessons and grade.”

In recent years, teaching three different classes, Mr. Owen has found having a TA to be a necessity. 

“I really enjoy having a TA every semester,” he said. “I’ve had some really great TAs, especially the last few years.” 

As an intern for the Student Life Center, senior Alison Moran helps Director of Campus Ministry Mr. Carter Powers and Campus Ministry Associate Ms. Brianna Freitas. This is her second year as a TA — last year she assisted Director of STEAM Ms. Carie Coleman. 

As a TA, her biggest accomplishment this semester so far was helping with the Sophomore Retreat, where she chose the local nonprofits that spoke to the Class of 2028, led students around the Our Lady of Lavang Parish, and gave a speech on the importance of service.

“I’ve spent a lot of time the past three years doing a lot of service, and so I really connect with all of the retreats and being able to encourage people to do service,” Moran said. “I kind of got to see all my work showing in front of me, because I got to see all the organizations that I had helped pick be there and give speeches, and I got to listen to some of them, so it was really cool to see all that.”

While exactly what she’s working on changes over the course of the semester in what she calls “phases,” ultimately, the role of TA is something that connects back to her love for service, and is an experience that she encourages future juniors and seniors to try.

“It’s always rewarding to get to help with anything I can,” she said. “I’d recommend it.”