Meet Grace: Early childhood professional education (B.S.'23)

My name is Grace. I graduated with a degree in early childhood education in 2023, and I'm the day camp director at Sherman Lake YMCA Outdoor Center.

It is a summer camp here in Augusta, Michigan, that has a resident and day camp.

Sherman Lake is special because it not only helps the kids to grow and learn who they are as a person, but it helps the counselors and the staff.

I oversee daily activities for the campers and staff. I monitor and make sure the staff are holding up to the expectations we have here.

My role as a day camp director is different than being a camp counselor because I see the behind the scenes now. When I was a counselor, I didn't see much of what happened and how the things that were happening happened. And now I'm in charge of those decisions and what happens next.

I'm learning a lot of lessons here that are going to help me in the classroom. The biggest one I think, is flexibility. I'm learning that things don't always go the way you plan. And so you need to have a backup plan to help make sure things can run smoothly.

I chose to be an early childhood student at Western because as a kid I always adored my teachers. I always liked going to school and that sense of stability. So when I got older, I started to realize that I really did love being with kids and teaching others.

Western Michigan has made a positive mark on me. As an educator, I always feel like I have support and I could always ask my professor for a quick email to kind of ask them what to do next because they supported me the whole way through graduation.

The TRO Future Educator Success Program (FESP)is a government funded program that helps education students if they are a first generation college student, disabled or low income. They helped me pick my classes and keep track of my assignments. And a couple of years later into the program, I started to become a tutor and mentee. 

Students should join because there's a strong mentorship in the program. There's a lot of people in that office that are ready to help you. So whether you're feeling lost or whether you're not quite sure how to get around WMU, they're there to help you and help you get to the path that you want to get to.