Seventeen-year-old Alexis Sweeney has gotten an early introduction to her chosen career this school year as a teaching aid in Laura Mirabito’s sixth grade class.

A senior at Old Rochester Regional High School, Sweeney is part of the School to Career Program that gives students a hands on opportunity to step out of the classroom and into a real work setting.

For Sweeney, being at Old Hammondtown School is coming full circle. The Mattapoisett native studied under Mirabito when she was in sixth grade and remembered her time there fondly. She was also inspired by her junior English teacher Kathleen Brunelle.

“I realized that between these two women, that’s what I wanted to do,” Sweeney said, though she has been playing teacher since she was little. “When I was a kid, I loved setting up the baby dolls and pretending to teach them.”

Mirabito said she hadn’t seen Sweeney for about six years when she got a knock on her door last summer. She quickly agreed to have Sweeney join her classroom, and said the experience has been positive for everyone involved.

“She’s an incredible young lady, so responsible,” said Mirabito. “What teacher couldn’t use an extra hand in the room at all times?”

Mirabito said her students have embraced Sweeney, who can tell them with authority that the things they’re learning in class will come in handy for the next six years.

“They’ve really warmed up to her,” Mirabito said. “It also reinforces what we do here as having value. It gives them a look into their immediate future.”

Sweeney said she has always loved elementary-aged kids, including her bevy of younger cousins.

“I’m always with them,” she said. “I never thought they were annoying little cousins.”

Still, Sweeney said it took time to figure out how to be more of a teacher and less of a friend to the kids. That’s a challenge for every young teacher, said Mirabito.

“I have to keep remembering I’m the adult,” Sweeney said laughing.

As she has established that teacher-student relationship, she has taken on new responsibilities.

“Here I am taking small groups, working with them individually. They’re coming to me to help edit their poems … They see me as an adult figure rather than just a helper teacher. It’s pretty cool,” said Sweeney, who spends two to three days a week in Mirabito’s classroom.

The experience has only strengthened Sweeney’s resolve to one day stand in front of her own class. With only a few months left of her senior year, she is already looking ahead to a time when she will be the teacher, not just the helper.

In September, she starts her freshman year at Salem State University, where she plans to study elementary education.