Conference Stuff

Hello Family!

I just got back from a few days in Richmond at our state affiliate conference of the NAEYC- National Association for the Education of Young Children--the sate is VAECE-Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education (the local affiliate NVAEYC is where I'm on the board as the accreditation chair).

So the conference was really great and I came away very excited and thinking about lots of different things. I did not go to any workshops I that were amazing, but I did got one about public-private partnerships, something I've been thinking about increasingly lately so it gave me some good food for thought. I taught a workshop on Discovery Bottles (filling empty plastic bottles with different materials) that was very well attended (they had told me to expect 30, I made 50 handouts, and had to get about 20 emails addresses to send handouts to people who didn't get one after I ran out). I connected with a vendor who was selling science materials similar to the things I was doing, who lent me some materials to show at the workshop and gave me free goodies for sending people her way. After the workshop I was approached by a couple directors about coming to present workshops at their centers. Big money consulting here I come! :)

I spent some time with my friend Melissa, our old director, who was there recruiting for the company she works for now--who have been trying to snag me. They have an assistant director opening at a center literally down the street from my house. I don't know if they'll be able to meet my salary requirements, but if they can it'll be something to consider.

I had a couple of meetings in reference to the commitee I chair, and feel in a much better place to start moving forward on the types of things I should be working on (whereas before I was feeling a little lost--I'm the youngest person on the board and the only one who hasn't been there for decades rotating from position to position). The other fun thing about this conference was I roomed with our local affiliate president, who is also very involved at the state level, and spent much time hanging out at the hotel bar with the heads of these organizations. They are all very nice and I think excited to have someone from the next generation--I heard lots of neat stories, am learning a lot, and am making GREAT connections.

If you made it this far thanks for hanging in with my ramblings. I am excited about moving forward and seeing where this all takes me.

Kyla, good luck at upcoming Nationals--please do keep us posted as to games and outcomes!

Love to all! Would love to hear what others are up to!
Paige