High schoolers explore careers in early childhood education
On Oct. 28, 54 high schoolers from across the New River Valley explored a possible future for themselves in the early childhood education field at the third annual “Early Childhood Career Day: Those Who Can, Teach!”
As child care centers across the country face a hiring shortage crisis, forging career pathways in the industry has become an essential strategy to ensuring high quality child care is available for the next generation and beyond.
Virginia Tech’s Early Childhood Education Initiatives has been working to elevate and promote the New River Valley's early child care industry through critical opportunities like career days, in partnership with the Community Foundation of the New River Valley’s First Steps and the New River Community College (NRCC), which hosted the event at its campus in Dublin.
Students in attendance had a valuable opportunity to learn more about the profession, meeting with a diverse group of experienced early childhood education professionals in a series of hands-on workshops that explored curriculum-building, responses to stress, and engaging children in unexpected learning opportunities.
The high schoolers, many of them seniors preparing to graduate, also came away with next steps toward a career in the field. Representatives from local colleges and universities, including Radford University and Virginia Tech’s Department of Human Development and Family Science, were present to answer questions about their programs, and students began the day with a tour of the NRCC campus and information on funding opportunities that pay for two- and four-year degrees.
“Our child care workforce is an essential component of the New River Valley, since they allow parents to focus on their careers, knowing their children are being educated in a safe and healthy environment. The investment we put into this profession has a positive ripple effect across the community,” said Kim Thomason, program manager for Early Childhood Education Initiatives.
The organizers were inspired to create this career day in order to develop an education pipeline for the local early childhood workforce, ensuring that new professionals are able to engage in the work with confidence and with the right tools.
“High quality care hinges on the adults that care for them, and requires education, skills, and knowledge that make the difference between just providing a service to setting the stage for children to thrive,” said Margaret Hurst, program coordinator for First Steps.
It has become a part of Early Childhood Education Initiatives' larger strategy to work with community, business, and governmental partners to strengthen the early child care industry in the region. This not only means developing future educators, but providing development opportunities that support today’s workforce.
To this end, the career day also contains an educators' session, which this year was given to the 34 early child care and health professionals in attendance while the students took their campus tour. The session was presented by Isabel Valdivia, graduate assistant for Early Childhood Education Initiatives, who talked about her research on child development and the essential role high quality early child care plays in that.
“[Studies] have shown, what I think every educator already knows, that quality early child education is crucial. It’s not just about getting better grades. It’s about well-being and it’s about health,” said Valdivia.
