The Mentor Program Honor List
Director Mentor Ancelma Sanchez (East Los Angeles College) has helped to plan a FREE mini-conference for directors and aspiring directors on March 10, 2012 in the greater Los Angeles area. For more information, click on 360 Degrees of Leadership Conference (247kb). Thank you, Selma, for setting a leadership example! Please note that RSVP is required.
Congratulations to Mentors and Director Mentors across California who are making contributions above and beyond high quality mentoring!
Our congratulations go out to Santa Barbara Director Mentor Danielle
Monroy,
owner of Creative Care for Children Family Child Care Program. Canvases from
all 25 children enrolled in her summer 2011 program were showcased at the Art
is Vital area
of Elizabeth Gordon Gallery in Santa Barbara in October! Danielle tells us
that Elizabeth Gordon chooses one display each month, usually an elementary
school art class. This was Creative Care for Children’s second
art display this year, the last one being at Live Culture. Danielle’s program
has also been featured twice in an Art & Creativity
blog.
Danielle invited anyone within range of Santa Barbara
to join them for First Thursday in October and see the beautiful acrylic paintings
of her preschool children!
Not one but two Mentor Teachers were recognized as
Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) Preschool Teachers of the Year! Michelle Renee Krehl,
who teaches at The Nurtury Preschool in Sherman Oaks (LA Mission Mentor Program)
and Astrid X. Feist, who teaches at Cerritos College Child
Development Center in Norwalk (Cerritos/Rio Honda Mentor Program) were among
the six early childhood educators honored at a ceremony held at Sony Pictures
Studios in Culver City on April 12, 2011. All six Los Angeles County Preschool Teacher of the Year Award recipients were
recognized “for going above and beyond the call of duty to prepare their students
for kindergarten and life.” Read all about it on LA County Preschool Teacher’s website.
Congratulations, Michelle and Astrid!
Congratulations to Mentors and Director Mentors across California who are making contributions above and beyond high quality mentoring!
Alameda Regional Director Mentor Liisa Hale’s program, BlueSkies for Children in Oakland, was recognized by NAEYC’s Engaging Diverse Families (EDF) program for its noteworthy family engagement accomplishments. EDF’s goal is to learn how excellent early childhood education programs are effectively engaging diverse families and to share what they learn with other programs struggling to start and sustain family engagement practices. BlueSkies recognition was announced in the Summer 2010 edition of Connections. Congratulations, Liisa!
Also published in the Summer 2010 edition of Connections was an article co-authored by Cerritos/Rio Hondo Mentor Olga Andrade. Olga and co-author Ruth Alfaro Piker provide a framework for supporting dual language learners’ English development in an article titled “Learning with Others.”
In March 2010, Karen Taylor, Los Rios Regional Mentor, received the Family Child Care Provider of the Year Award from the Sacramento Child Care Coalition!
On March 11, 2010, Alameda Regional Director Mentor Victoria Kushelyad hosted Carol T. Smith, Policy Advisor to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell from the California Department of Education and three dignitaries from Japan. Victoria directs Kidango Hillview Crest Part-day Preschool, which was selected for the visit as an outstanding example of U.S. preschools. Click the following link to read more about the Kidango International Recognition.
Congratulations to Alameda Regional Director Mentor Vicky Tsakoyias-Mendes for the publication of her article “Fundraising for your center: An opportunity to build community” (pdf, 674kb) in the July/August 2010 issue of Child Care Exchange magazine!
A round of applause for Monterey Peninsula Director Mentor Catherine Nyznyk, who was one of seven NAEYC awardees of registration scholarships for the 2010 National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development! All awardees were honored at the Institute’s conference in Phoenix, Arizona in June.