Program: Empowering High School Students for Early Childhood Education Careers

Description: Come join us to discover how to prepare work-ready high school graduates for rewarding careers in early childhood education (ECE). Hear from the deputy director of community and engagement from the National Head Start Association who is a former school administrator with over 30 years of experience, Dr. Deborah Bergeron, and find out how to create or enhance your system drawing inspiration from South Dakota’s innovative approach to addressing the workforce crisis one high school student at a time.

Explore turnkey resources to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in this critical field. Build a pipeline of talented ECE professionals and transform your community by empowering the next generation of early childhood educators. 

Learning Objective: Learn how your school district can help high school students earn their CDA’s and get valuable experience for a career in early childhood education.

Presenters:

Zuly Vazquez  is the senior manager of online professional development at the National Head Start Association. She has worked with Head Start and Early Head Start programs for over a decade, specializing in training, mentoring, coaching, facilitation, curriculum implementation, and management. She worked for several years in the classroom, providing high-quality education to children from different cultures, traditions, and ethnicities. She is a former EHS/HS parent. She has vast experience supporting and providing technical assistance to teachers, family child care providers, education specialists, and families in large EHS/HS programs in Florida and Georgia. Over her career, she designed a supplemental Christian early childhood curriculum, bilingual online lessons, and classroom observation tools and has facilitated early childhood education courses in English and Spanish at the college level. As an active early childhood advocate, she is a board member of her local NAEYC affiliate and Family Child Care Home Alliance of Georgia. She is a senior advisor of Latinas United for the Children of America.

Linda Farinha is the Director of the Anne Macaione Mitchell ‘44 College & Career Center at Norwich Free Academy (NFA) in Norwich, Connecticut. In this role, she supports students in exploring career opportunities, preparing for the workforce, and aligning career goals with the college selection process. Additionally, Linda coordinates pathways and pipelines initiatives that enable students to earn industry-recognized credentials while still in high school. Prior to her current role, Linda served as the Department Head of the Career & Technology Education Department at NFA for nine years. Her educational experiences include twenty years as a high school business education teacher and a First Year Experience adjunct professor at Three Rivers Community College. Linda has been extensively involved in community steering committees and business advisory boards. She is a graduate of Bryant University (BS in Business
Administration), Sacred Heart University (MA in Teaching), the University of Connecticut (6th Year Educational Technology), and Sacred Heart University (092 Certification).