CRECE Profiles

Early childhood education is a vibrant field of children from birth to age 8, their families, and caregivers/teachers in homes, communities, child care centers, Head Start, and elementary schools. To showcase the unique depth and breadth of early childhood education, we created CRECE Profiles. We interview early educators to learn about their work, philosophy, pet peeves, and dreams. In addition, they share pictures of their environments and their favorite activities. If you know an outstanding early educator, please let us know. We’d love to learn from them!

Michelle Saey

“I love being able to create the environment that I feel comfortable in. I feel like the families that come here feel very comfortable and that’s one of the beauties of family childcare, there’s something out there for everybody. Because not all of them are the same. That’s the beauty of it, that you don’t have to conform.”

Sun Prairie Head Start Team

“It’s not easy, but it is fun. I do it because of the little ones, and they make you laugh every day. You’re either really tired but you’re also really proud of yourself and what you did today. You make a child laugh today. It is hard but it is still very rewarding. And then when you have a parent that comes to you and gives you a hug and says, ‘I don’t want my child gonna do without you next year.’ That’s huge. So, yes, it’s tough, but we love it.” – Kristi

Jen Bertrand-LaDuke

“I wanted every kid that came through my classroom to know that there was somebody who cared about them and wanted the best for them. When they come to me, I just want them to have the best year ever. My goal of every year is for every kid to feel that they are the best, they are my favorite. You’re all going to rock this year, it’s going to be the best year ever, and everybody is going to feel successful.”

Angela Harris

“When we think about [early childhood educators], we should think about the folks who are with them as being more than just a face in the room, but a person who is helping your child develop, helping your child grow and learn, and really imparting the skills that they’re going to need for the rest of their lives. Putting respect back on the idea of how our children are educated.”

Fanny Camacho

“I put students at the forefront and I’m constantly challenging myself, like right now I’m in my journey of being an Anti-racist educator. I really want to push myself to make our classroom and environment, our school and community feel welcoming and inviting. I’m very dedicated into the work of making our students feel not just a student, but after they leave me, they are the role models, and they are the kids who will help shape [the world].”

Shannon Davis

“My job is getting children prepared for their public school education. The way I feel successful is I can create respectful empathetic [skills] and [help them] be able to relate with each other, solve problem, and accept other people. When they get into kindergarten, they’re the ones [who] are helping solve problems and helping kids who are struggling, recognizing the importance of friendship, and reaching a hand out to somebody who might meet them.”