Emily Raya sees herself working with kids, maybe as an early childhood instructor, maybe as a classic elementary school teacher, but a teacher of young people nonetheless.
Raya is part of the new Early Childhood Education Club at Alamosa High School and will come out of it with a certificate from Trinidad State College that provides her with a career pathway.
Mariah Gonzales, Alexis Casias and Carlos Marquez are all in the same club, working toward a certificate in early childhood education that the students believe will open employment doors post-high school.
“To already have experience and knowledge is beneficial to me,” Raya says of Alamosa High’s drive to establish more career technical education clubs like the one in early childhood education.
Colorado requires its high schools to make sure students are ready either for college or to jump right into a technical career. It’s why Alamosa High Principal Amy Ortega is focused on launching new clubs and why she recruited Kari VanRy to lead the way in early childhood education.
VanRy coordinates the school district’s early childhood education efforts. She moved over to the high school to establish the new club and has 40 Alamosa High students who are now working through the program. A club program is required for state reimbursement.
The students in it will complete 15 hours of course work and lab hours to earn the college certificate. With the certificate, the students can work in early childhood settings, which is birth to 8 years old, and be ahead in their plans if a full teaching credential is what they desire.
“Ideally, hopefully, all of those will just stay with me through the program and we can push them out,” VanRy said. “The thought of growing our own and at least having some support through the high school is really what I envision because we know that our workforce is very, very limited in early childhood education.”
For more on early childhood education in the San Luis Valley read “Building a place to grow,” the new childhood care facility under construction by Boys & Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley.