My Hopes and Goals...

• One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

I hope that I get the opportunity to work with many children from all different backgrounds. I enjoy working with and learning about new people and hope to influence all of the children that I work with positively. I hope that someday I will even get the opportunity to work in another country with children and families. I think that would be such an enriching experience.

• One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field is to create a program that would offer preschool to all children and not be based on income, poverty level, needs, or place of residence that will prepare children for school. Head Start, and State funded preschools are good and enriching for children, but they are not available to all children. They are only available to low income children who qualify. This means that the "poor" children do not attend school with more children whose parents have a higher income. This is something that has always bothered me and had been hard for me to understand.

• A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

I would like to thank all of my classmates for the shared knowledge and personal experiences that they have shared during this last semester. I have had the opportunity to read a lot of personal stories about things that they have gone through throughout their lifetime, and had many genuine comments regarding stories that I have shared. It has truly been a great learning experience.