Master of Education (MEd) – Online Cohort
I have dedicated my adult life to the world of early learning and child care (ELCC). I spent 25 years as a director supporting and learning from children, families, co-educators within my beautiful rural community in Alberta that holds these memories and continues to flourish as a not-for-profit ELCC program. I have 3 amazing adult children, Logan, Kaiden, and Taia. They have been my inspiration to create environments that would see them in all their uniqueness and respond by nurturing their strengths and curiosities. My husband of 25+ years supports my dreams in ELCC first as a director then as an advocate– which allowed me the opportunity to sit on the provincial boards and have a voice at the National level. Now he is my rock as I endeavour the MEd program at UBC.
My experience at UBC so far has exceeded my expectations. I am honoured to be part of a cohort of women who have proven to show up authentically and powerfully to support one another. It is difficult to juggle all the responsibilities each of us holds but it’s much easier when you know there are people who truly want to see you succeed. I hold deep respect for our professors who help us grow deeper into our own knowing, being, and doing….”oh the older I get the less I know” couldn’t be more true. This reminds me of a concept offered in the book From Teaching to Thinking by authors Pelo and Carter (2018) “Questions that open into new questions. Questions that carry us forward into a community engaged in shared wondering, sharing marveling, shared seeking, shared discovery” (p. 44). “Great ideas have legs. They take you somewhere. With them, you can raise questions that can’t be answered” (p. 45) this reflects my experience as a quest to reconstruct my learning.
My story started with building a family and starting an early learning and child care center. It’s my turn now to pursue my other love…as a lifelong learner. Someone said to me when I was being criticized to go back to school now, “that education is a gift you give yourself”. To me knowledge is powerful, and I am grateful to be on this journey. The field of ECE is not known for paying professional wages, but I will forever be an advocate for the workforce and have already seen improvements in recognition/value for ELCC in the past 30 years. I will continue to see my vision through by challenging policy stakeholders, being in dialogue with community stakeholders, and supporting educators to do their important work alongside children and families.