Time Well Spent

Being in the Master’s program at Walden University has truly been a wonderful learning experience for me! I am so grateful to all of the supportive instructors I have had and the plethora of helpful and creative classmates whom I have had the pleasure of collaborating with. The writing center, library, and other online resources have been awesome and in these past 18 months I had no issues with technical difficulties and my course materials were delivered to me in a very timely manner. That being said, I would like to reflect on three learnings that were the most heartfelt and though it was difficult to condense because all were of great value to me, I chose Early Childhood Development, Issues and Trends, and Perspective, Diversity, and Equity.

With our ever changing and diverse nation with regards to culture, ethnicity, gender orientation, religion, etc., it is vital for EC professionals to be knowledgeable and possess the skills necessary to support the needs of all children and families. We must begin by recognizing our own biases and schemas and begin to eliminate them in order to provide the empathy, compassion, and encouragement children and families need. I was enlightened by the impact toxic environments has on prenatal fetuses and brain development for infants and young children and the detrimental long term health problems associated with can cause. Learning about the depth of equity in this country and how to recognize issues and research possible remedies is another area that influenced my perspective as well learning to recognize microaggressions and how to combat and educate the offenders. As I said earlier, it was very difficult for me to narrow down my most influential courses because I have learned valuable information from each one that I can utilize in my future endeavors.

My long term goal is within the next 10 years is for my organization to my national with expansion plans for global saturation. I also plan to write a book, and possess a reputation for my advocacy efforts that speaks for itself.

I would also like to take this time to say a sincere farewell t all of Dr E as well as all of my classmates and I wish each one of you the very best life has to offer and much

success in your new or enhanced careers as EC professionals. It is my hope that one day our paths will cross again on some powerful advocacy effort and we can become part of each other’s CoP. If anyone would like to stay in touch with me, please feel free to email me at diannansykes@aol.com or you may call or text me at (407) 247-2631.

God bless you all.

Dianna Sykes