Happy Women’s History Month! 🥳️
The theme for AECA this year is Linking Hearts and Minds: Early Childhood Connections.
This month we will be celebrating stories from our past presidents about women who who helped shape their experience as early childhood professionals. They were able to help grow our early childhood field here in Arkansas and I hope that continues to happen today with the women in YOUR life.
Today’s share comes from Gregg Cooper, a Past President of AECA.
‘Being a male in the female heavy early childhood education realm in Arkansas was a daunting task at times. Being president of AECA during the pandemic was an even more daunting task. There are many women that were very influential during my stint in early childhood, however I will choose to talk about Dot Brown. I did not know Ms. Dot until I entered this field. She made me feel like we had been friends forever. She was so supportive of everything that I did as president. When we decided to not have a conference during COVID time, she reached out to tell me that she was behind the decision. She also helped us come up with the idea of some professional learning through Zoom. Honestly, having come from the school-age side to the early childhood side, I often felt like an outsider. Ms. Dot never made me feel that way. She always welcomed me with open arms. While it took others more time to accept this chunk of coal, I think that Ms. Dot accepting me went a long way in getting others to accept me as well. Thanks Dot! You are truly an inspiration.’
Who are the women in your circles who have inspired you to become a better early childhood professional? Email president@arkansasearlychildhood.org with your stories.
Be sure to keep coming back to our socials to find more stories throughout this month and I look forward to reading yours.
Looking forward to connecting!
Natasha Kile
AECA President
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