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 Yun Sun recently shared the following story with us. (Her story has been edited for length.)

My name is Yun Sun. I am originally from China, but currently live and work in Litchfield, Minnesota. Two years ago, I was introduced to the T.E.A.C.H. program through a co-worker. Early childhood education has always been a passion of mine, but I had begun to feel stagnant in my career and did not know what I could do to further my education.

I applied to the early childhood education program through T.E.A.C.H. in 2016, which helped me gain a lot of knowledge and experience. The scholarship means I haven’t been stressed about my financial situation. At work, I practice the knowledge learned through the program, such as how to assess an individual child’s development and how to cooperate with parents to help each child grow. I also feel more confident to communicate with parents and coworkers about children’s development with the knowledge I have gained. This fall I am going to start another program through T.E.A.C.H. in order to get my bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

During the learning journey of early childhood development, I was also pregnant with my little boy. My husband said it was the perfect time for us to welcome the new baby to this world. I shared the importance of learning in the early years with him and we discussed how to help our little boy grow.

During the past two years living in a different country, with a full-time job, classes, and a new baby, I felt life was so busy. Fortunately, T.E.A.C.H. has an awesome professional team that has guided me all the way through my learning experience.