Correspondent photos / Nancilynn Gatta Tracy Sheppard of Pennsylvania, an aide in the preschool class at Fairhaven School in Niles, helps Sarai Stroud-Jefferson, 4, of Warren, work on her butterfly craft Tuesday morning while members of the Hubbard High School Future Educators of America worked as aides in the classroom.

NILES — From basketball games to painting murals on the wall to reading to the preschool class, Hubbard High School students have participated in numerous projects at Fairhaven School, which is for special needs students.

On Tuesday, they wanted to do something different, so members of the Future Educators of America worked as classroom aides.

“When the club started, we only had nine kids on our first trip,” said Josh MacMillan, Hubbard High School art teacher and Future Educators of America club adviser. “Now, we’re over 60 members. The first time we came, we were only able to take half, and we wanted to try to come up with a new way that we can make it inclusive for everybody. The administration of Fairhaven and I ran a couple ideas past each other, and this one seemed like the most logical and workable. It allowed every kid to be in a classroom for an hour-and-a-half with a 10-minute break and then switch to a second classroom.”

Fairhaven students of all ages had two aides in their classrooms to work on a coloring project — a butterfly made from a coffee filter and a clothespin — or an activity where they matched parts of the body of a penguin.

“I like being around the kids. It is fun doing this,” said Taylor Rodgers of Youngstown, a junior at Hubbard High School and a member of the Future Educators of America. Grace Frohman, a senior at Hubbard High School and a member of FEA, said she participated in the classroom aide day because, “I like new experiences and working with the kids is fun.”

Some of the 53 students who worked as classroom aides took the activity as an opportunity to think about their future careers.

Junior Maddie Fox said that being a classroom aide helps her decide on a career path, while Hubbard High School senior Mara Vargo, of Hubbard and a member of FEA, already knows her future employment.

“I want to be a teacher,” she said. Tuesday gave her hands-on time with children in a classroom.

Other students enjoyed the day, but decided that the teaching profession is not for them.

“My mom is a teacher. I do not want to be one. I just like to volunteer and I like to interact with the kids,” said Madi Hipkins, a junior at Hubbard High School and a member of FEA.

MacMillan explained the purpose of the club is for students who want to serve others and not necessarily become future educators.

He said he hoped that when students participated in the day, they learned “appreciation, gratitude, empathy and humility. These opportunities at Fairhaven allow our students and their students, the staff and administration to show our kids the best aspects of education.”