Time Well Spent!

I have waited for this moment for a really long time; the moment I complete my program and forge a new path in my career. Yet, I find myself a little sad, for having to say goodbye to great people who have been a great influence in shaping my identity as an early childhood educator. I will definitely miss checking by the discussion board and listening to my colleagues’ thoughts, to which I have apparently developed some kind of addiction. I will miss all of you and truly hope that our paths will cross again. 

I would like to express my thanks and appreciation for my professors, my classmates, and Walden for an incredibly rich 80 weeks, in which great wisdom and a deep sense of collaboration were implanted. Throughout these 2 years, I have gleaned a great repertoire of knowledge and valuable insights that have led me to develop big goals. Standing here today, I look back at who and where I was two years ago, and cannot help but feel grateful for the myriad opportunities for professional growth and personal maturity that I have been able to develop. Although I was nervous at first, everyone played a part at helping me get my groundings. I have been granted the valuable opportunity to work with professionals who have been very generous in sharing their expertise. This generosity and noble collaboration have rubbed off on me, and I will definitely pay it forward to others.

My Capstone experience has culminated in great insights and deeply felt learnings:

1. I have been inspired to reflect on my  personal role as an early childhood advocate of and explore wide prospects and positions through which I can make a positive social change

2. Identify the power of communities of practice and the extent to which I can achieve goals through partnerships and collaborations, locally and globally

3. Create a structured response statement in which I turn to research and make use of resources in identifying and addressing challenges in the field. Through this experience, I have learned to examine issues, identify different leadership attributes needed, analyze pertinent intended and unintended consequences, and most importantly put all of them together in one organized plan- a thing I would not have been able to put together without this program.

 

As for my long term goals, I believe that I (a) need to be unafraid to take risks and willing to make ample efforts to make a positive change, despite the deep-rooted status quo; and (b) inspire leadership in everyone, including students, family members, colleagues, and community partners.

I look forward to receiving updates from you. Wherever you future leads you, I will be cheering for you as you follow your passion and inspire other leaders and advocates.  Congratulations!

Note: I would love for us to build an international community of practice, in which we summon other colleagues to share their concerns and ideas about the early childhood field. Toward this purpose, I have made a group on Facebook that I hope everyone of you will join and invite other colleagues, in efforts to keep the collaboration process initiated in this course going and developing. You never know where this would take us, right? An additional wisdom I have garnered from this course J