October 2006
"Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood being made, his mind being developed. To him, we cannot say tomorrow. HIS NAME IS TODAY," Gabriel Mistral, Chilean poet
39 Early Childhood Teachers Back to School!
39 early childhood teachers participating in the QUEST Program are attending classes to work toward associates and bachelors degrees at eight local colleges, in the program being administered by the Preschool Enrichment Team. “All of the women in the program,” quotes Amy Carey, Program Director, who counsels program participants along with Carmaris Denson, “are going to college in addition to working as teachers in early childhood centers or as family childcare providers as well as caring for their own families. It takes a lot of organizing to do what they’re doing.”
Thirty two QUEST participants are working toward an Associates degree and seven toward a Bachelors degree at various local colleges, including:
- Holyoke Community College
- Springfield Technical Community College
- UMASS, University Without Walls
- Springfield College
- Our Lady of the Elms College
- Bay Path College
- Westfield State College
- Cambridge College
They come from 14 + organizations, including A Brighter Future, Children’s House, Early Childhood Centers of Springfield, Inc., Giggle Gardens, Head Start, Jewish Community Center, Jolly Juniors, Kid’s Place, New North Citizens Council, Pioneer Valley Christian School, Springfield Day Nursery, and several family childcare providers.
The QUEST program was the recent recipient of funding from MassMutual Financial Group. According to Nick Fyntrilakis in the Community Relations Department, “MassMutual is pleased to support efforts that are geared towards improving the quality and accessibility of early childhood education.”
Outreach is currently under way to recruit eleven early childhood teachers for whom English is a second language, to bring the program cohort to 50 participants, reports Carey. “And with this funding from MassMutual, we are hoping to expand the QUEST program even further. That’s exciting news for our preschool children, as research shows that the quality of education in the early childhood classroom improves in direct correlation to the education levels of teachers. Access to higher education is what QUEST is all about.”
The Early Childhood Workforce Workgroup of Cherish Every Child designed the QUEST program, which was instituted in December, 2005.