Jennifer’s Graduation Speech

2023 Spring Graduation Speech 

Good Afternoon fellow classmates or should I say fellow graduates, teachers, Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition Staff members, families, and friends. My name is Jennifer Chavez and it is an honor to stand in front of you all. Class of 2023 we made it! So please take this opportunity and look at all of our classmates. I not only want you to celebrate each other and acknowledge all we have accomplished to this day. But also look at and remember these faces. These are the faces of winners, achievers, and lastly future Early Childhood Educators. I would also like to thank God for guiding us through all these steps we took to accomplish our goal in becoming successful Early Childhood Educators.   

  I want to thank my wonderful teacher Cesiah Hernandez. I am so grateful you were my instructor. You helped me see that I can be and do more in my career. You gave me the confidence and inspiration to dream big and fight for what I want. So thank you. I will always remember your beautiful smile especially when I deal with any of my students’ challenging behaviors. Advice you shared with me to succeed and that I am grateful for. My gratitude to you for all you have done, which I will never forget. I truly appreciate you and your time you spent helping me and my classmates on many occasions. Thank you very much for your time and passion for teaching this course. I enjoyed every minute of your lecture as well as your marvelous sense of humor and stories. 

 I would also like to thank all of the administrators, coordinators, and all staff members that are part of Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition for providing us with PASO (Providers Advancing Student Outcomes). This course helped us become and prepare ourselves as educators to keep the children under our care safe, healthy, and educated before they transition into school. 

 It is a pleasure to express my passion for teaching and becoming an Early Childhood Educator. In the words of Sidney Hook  “ Everyone who remembers his own education remembers teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system”. I want to be the teacher I needed as a child to support my students in becoming successful learners.  So that means advocating, teaching and modeling as I have been doing. I hope to continue to grow and achieve this with all the great experiences I gained through this course. Especially from all of the knowledge I obtained from the following theorists we learned from. Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive, comprehensive and physical development that begins in such valuable years of childhood. Erik Erikson who corresponds to Psychosocial Development. His role has taught us the emotional development in creating positive experiences and stable relationships to help children develop social skills, and create a concept of self and healthy self-esteem. Next, Lev Vygotsky with his theory in Sociocultural Development showed us how children acquire higher cognitive functions through interactions with the world that surrounds them. 

 Our last theorist Lawrence Kohlberg. His theory helps us analyze and understand that every human being from an early age goes through different stages in which their thoughts and moral values are changing, depending on the stage where you are, you are influenced by culture and the environment. How interesting, right. As you can see we were born to make a difference. So classmates, so much we’ve learned, so much we’ve worked, So many Thursdays, So many Saturdays, our class had to meet, we will finally get a good weekend sleep! So class of 2023 the future awaits us. Before I leave you I’d like to say. In the words of Hannah Montana;” I always knew this day would come. We’d be standing one by one with our future in our hands. So many dreams, so many plans. I always knew after all these years, there’d be laughter, there’d be tears. But never thought I’d walk away with so much joy and so much pain”. So families, teachers, staff and friends please give a round of applause for our future Early Childhood Educators of Class 2023! 

Jennifer Chavez 

Jennifer Chavez’s graduation speech serves as a poignant reminder of the significance of programs like PASO in empowering Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers. It exemplifies the dedication and passion that FFN providers bring to their roles as early childhood educators, impacting the lives of children in profound ways.

As we applaud Jennifer’s achievements, let her story inspire us all to recognize the potential within FFN caregivers and the importance of supporting their educational journeys. The future of early childhood education is brighter when we empower individuals like Jennifer, who are committed to providing safe, nurturing, and enriching environments for the youngest members of our communities. Join us in amplifying the voices of FFN caregivers and celebrating their dedication to early childhood education.