Summary of Growth In completing the credential I believe it has enhanced my leadership skills by helping me understand the roles of leaders

vs. those of managers? It helped my understand the types of leadership and most of all helped me see what my strengths and weaknesses are as a leader and gave me the information and resources to develop into a better leader. I am better able to see the type of leader that I wish to become and helped me realize that leadership within the center is so much bigger than just the center itself. I have always believed it takes a village to raise a child but felt intrusive in delving further into the dynamics of families we care for, I now believe that without that information it is impossible to give the children the best care that we can. This credential has given me the courage to think outside the box in terms of who are resources are in the community and the courage to reach out to them. I have been able to reach out to other community members to help them understand the reasons early education is so important by helping them understand how they fit into the picture of quality early education even if they do not have young children or children at all. Helping them understand the economic impact of a child that does not have access to resources or quality care at a young age has helped community members help early education providers get the word out about its importance. Having these conversations allowed me to get the conversation started regarding behavioral issues in children as a community problem, not just a family problem. These relationships I am building will allow me to use my leadership skills outside my program. Since beginning this journey of the leadership credential I have been forced to go beyond my comfort level in more ways than I could possibly count. I love what I do, but I am not comfortable with debate or conflict and by trying to help people understand the need for a program for children with behavior challenges I have come in contact with some debate about if this really is a community problem and not a family problem. The skills I learned in the leadership credential gave me the courage to listen to the

opinions of those that think differently than I do and use that information to try and better others understanding of the needs of our community and how we can work together by understanding each other. I would like to continue to force myself to get involved outside of my center in community hoping to make a difference not only in the world of early education but in the world as a whole. This will take a lot of courage on my part. I believe I have made an impact on my community by getting the conversation started about the impact of quality childcare for all children, not just the children who behave in the typical norm of childhood. After all what is the typical norm, I dont believe that it can be measured by a chart; every single child is an individual and has individual needs at every age. We as early education providers believe in what we do, many parents believe in what we do, but I believe that the real change comes when we can get our community members without children to understand the importance of what we do and how it impacts them. In one instance I had a conversation with a local business owner who does not have children and lives next door to a horrible child. After our conversation she looked at the situation a little different and has since reached out to the child and developed a friendship with him, in doing this some of those annoying behaviors havent become so annoying although she may never realize the true impact her reaching out has on this child, I assure her that it has. John Quincy Adams said it best If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. My plans for the future are to continue to inspire the community and the staff at my center to become a voice for children who have little voice themselves. We must all understand the importance of a quality childhood for children. It is our responsibility to the field as well as the future leaders of our cities, townships and country to have a positive impact on our children. I will continue to use my voice to help others understand the importance of this, as well as use the resources that I have connected with in this credential to create a quality inclusive center for our community.

Children need someone to believe in them, believe that they are capable in whatever they choose to do and what I learned most of all through this process is that no child should be hidden away in a classroom, but embraced in who they are and its us as providers that need to change, in order to make a change.