“I am a military child,” Samantha says. Her father served in the armed forces and the family followed him as he moved to different posts in the U.S. and abroad. “We lived in Germany, Kansas, South Carolina, Minnesota and New York before coming to Alaska when I was 10 years old. My father kept applying to stay there,” and 20 years later, Samantha still calls Alaska home. For the past ten years, she has also served her country at the Denali Child Development Center, located on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where she works as a lead teacher.
Samantha’s career lets her combine her military background with an early interest in working with young children. “My grandma taught kindergarten,” Samantha says. “She was the kind of teacher who everyone loves.” And watching her made Samantha want to be that kind of teacher, too.
Samantha’s mom encouraged her to apply to be a teacher’s aide at the base, and she got the job. The center provided her with some initial training and then encouraged her to earn a Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™. The base paid for it because they want teaching staff to advance in their careers. And Samantha did. She climbed up the ranks to become a lead teacher after earning her bachelor’s degree. And the growth she experienced in her career made her aware of the value of her CDA®, so she’s now getting ready to renew it. “I used material from my portfolio in my college courses,” she says, “so the CDA helped me in both school and in my job.”
Her background as a military child has been useful, too, in helping the children adjust to a new setting and make new friends, as Samantha explains. “Some of the kids are shy, so I ask the parents if there is a comfort item, like a stuffed animal or family photo, that the children can bring from home. And we work with the children one-on-one until they feel more comfortable in the classroom. Fortunately, preschool children are resilient. Though they may miss their old friends, they’re ready to make new ones, and soon it’s like they’ve been here forever.”
And Samantha is especially good at helping children adjust to a new place because she enjoys a challenge. “I feel closest to the children who have behavior issues,” she says, “because I spend a lot of time getting to know them and learning to help them. When I succeed, I feel a sense of achievement.” And this approach helps her make headway with children when other teachers have failed.
For example, Samantha taught a five-year-old boy named John who was having a hard time in another classroom. “When they moved him to my classroom,” she recalls, “I realized that he was more advanced than the other kids and misbehaved because he was bored. Once I began to challenge John, his behavior in class improved, and his mom told me he was also behaving better at home,” Samantha says. And one of the keys to working with bright kids like John, as she’s learned, is having them mentor other children. “Helping his younger friends gave John the challenge he needed to stay engaged in class.”
So did all the effort and time that Samantha put into finding out what made John tick. And she also made progress with Billy Bob, a three-year-old who had misbehaved at another center. “His mom wanted to give him a fresh start, so she brought him to us,” Samantha recalls. She soon came to see that he became angry because he had trouble speaking and making himself understood. So, she helped his parents find the services Billy Bob needed to speak better. And by the time he left the center two years later, Billy Bob was speaking clearly.
His parents were grateful, and Samantha was glad to help because serving military parents is part of her mission at the base. “I talk to the parents and assist them in any way I can,” she says. “The military also provides a lot of great resources, including a life counselor who can help children and parents with the constant moves that many of them have to make.”
Some of the parents are military spouses who work at the center, Samantha explains. “That makes recruitment and retention a challenge, leading to waiting lists for spots.” So, the base is working to attract more staff by offering training and financial aid for education, which is now allowing Samantha to earn her master’s degree in education.
Staff at the center also receive free child care, a perk that means a lot to Samantha as the parent of a three-year-old daughter. “I enjoy being able to see her on breaks and being able to take a quick peek in the window of her classroom when I walk by,” Samantha says.
She also enjoys the diverse culture that surrounds her at work, as she explains. “Working in a military installation is special because of all the different people you meet who you might not encounter otherwise. I teach a child whose mom is from Bulgaria and another one whose mom is from China. I know people from North Dakota and Puerto Rico. Then there’s my best friend, who comes from Florida and sometimes complains about freezing here in Alaska, where it can be 15 below zero for weeks at a time.”
But the frigid cold doesn’t bother Amanda and she’s happy to call Alaska home. “It’s very beautiful in the summer and the center is set up to help the children let off some steam when it’s too cold to play outside. We have a big gross motor room with bikes, balls and plenty of space for the children to run around.”
Watching them while happy at play warms Samantha’s heart and inspires her to grow in her career even more. “My mission is to serve military members and their children, and I’d like to advance it by becoming a trainer at the center,” Samantha explains. She’s committed to helping other teachers become more skilled since she believes in an old military saying: “Military children are like dandelions because they can grow wherever they’re planted.” When the children have teachers like Samantha, that’s true. She knows how to plant the seeds of learning that help young children bloom.
The Council for Professional Recognition is excited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) on November 17- 23, 2024! Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor, the 2024 NAW theme, 10 Years...
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The Council for Professional Recognition has long been a leader in quality in early childhood education, ensuring that educators meet the highest standards of competence and professionalism through the Child Development Associate® (CDA) credential. As...
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Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
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