T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® MINNESOTA is a scholarship program that helps early childhood and school-age care providers increase their levels of education, compensation, and commitment to the field by earning college credits and degrees. T.E.A.C.H. program recipient Lynn Barten recently shared the following story with us:

“I had the goal of obtaining my early childhood education degree when I began in this profession twenty-three years ago. I started at the bottom of the career ladder, knowing little to nothing about early childhood growth and development. I started by taking as many continuing education classes as possible while operating my child care business and caring for my own young family. I reached a point where I was craving a higher level of knowledge than what was offered. I decided to complete my CDA®, and I received an award to pay for the assessment. Then I turned my CDA® into college credit and obtained my early childhood certificate. Next, I transferred my certificate into an Associate’s Degree and finally earned a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Leadership. This would not have been possible without a T.E.A.C.H. scholarship because money is very tight with a young family and a career as a family child care provider. 

After completing my degree, I had the confidence to take on children that other programs could not care for. T.E.A.C.H. made it possible for me to care for children with early childhood trauma and autism because I now had the advanced knowledge to properly care for and educate children with special needs and abilities. My degree also gave me the confidence to talk to families about developmental concerns, and with that confidence comes respect from parents that I am more than “just a babysitter or daycare.”