From the Program Coordinator

My Journey in Education, My Journey as an Educator

I am proof that education improves the care that we provide to children and families. Education also gives us a deeper understanding of what it is that we do every day and
why we do it.

I began my career in education right out of high school at the age of 19 as a contracted employee of a public school. I was their lead teacher in a before- and after-school program and assistant in the full-day pre-school program. I was able to work on a variance and completed a few trainings to retain my position. I thought I was an amazing teacher. I assumed the more worksheets we completed and the more pre-cut projects we sent home with the kids, the better. I believed this work constituted learning.  

After two years at this program I decided that I wanted to take some courses at the technical college in child development. My eyes started to open to process versus product. I realized that if a child working on a coloring project wanted the grass blue and the sky orange, it was okay. During this time I worked at another school-based program as an assistant teacher. I was able to apply the knowledge that I was learning in the classroom to what I was doing as an assistant to an amazing, highly trained lead teacher. My passion for the field of early care and education began to blossom. I wanted to know more and become the best
child care provider.

I went on to Minnesota State University-Moorhead where I received my degree in Child Development with a K-3 licensure and began to learn what “developmentally appropriate” means and looks like. I learned that birth to 5 are the most impressionable years and when an enormous amount of learning needs to occur. I received the knowledge that allowed me to provide an environment that fostered growth and development. I also realized that having a passion alone to educate children was good—but being educated was what made me a great provider.

To this day I do my best to stay educated and connected to others in the field and share my story of how my educational journey impacts my interaction with children and families. I will be graduating in December with my Master’s degree in Child Development and will go on to complete my Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education. Children are and will always be my life in one capacity or another.

It has been my pleasure and my dream to help other providers grow professionally and offer support that helps them achieve their educational and personal goals in the field of early childhood and school-age care.

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