Honoring Early Childhood
April 17, 2026
| An Interview with Michele Ridgeway |
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| This week at Parker we celebrated “Week of the Young Child,” an initiative spearheaded by the National Association for the Education of Young Children that aims to bring attention and energy to early childhood education and raise awareness about the importance of learning and teaching for this age group. Here at Parker, every single day is all about children – and this intentional time to honor the magic, wonder, and spirit of our very youngest learners leaves us with renewed gratitude for their contributions to our community. Why is early childhood education so important? To answer this question, we sat down with our PreK 4 teacher Michele Ridgeway. For twenty years, Michele has helped our youngest learners take their first steps into their school lives with wonder, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Through her gentle guidance and unwavering belief in each child, she has nurtured curiosity, kindness, and a love of learning that ripples outward for years to come. Michele will be retiring at the end of this school year, but her legacy of commitment to early childhood will live on in the collective wisdom of her colleagues and growing Parker students.  Michele shares, “I have always been a teacher. Growing up as a young adolescent, I worked at camps for special needs kids. After college, I worked for 15 years in early intervention. I have always worked with young children, and I have always loved teaching. It’s my soundtrack; it’s what I do. That’s why finding Parker so many years ago was a dream. At Parker, I can be my true artistic self. I can co-create this classroom with my students where we can each be our true selves, where people walk in and instantly understand exactly what we value and what we live for. It has been a dream come true.”  Michele goes on to explain that, “Early childhood education is so important to me because children at this age are geniuses. Their brains are operating at a genius level. At the same time, they have no balance, they barely understand their emotions, and they are just beginning to learn manners around being with others. They have very few inhibitions and this beautiful sense of freedom. Their brains can take in so much information; it is absolutely fascinating to me. They are just these perfect little humans – and we need to teach them how to be in a group, how to get their needs met, and how to care for others, while also preserving their inherent spark and individuality.”  “It is this organic push and pull of nurturing that we really spend time on in PreK at Parker – honoring the whole child while also guiding them towards the skills they need to be in community with others. We give them agency. We write the rules together. They have a sense that they are in charge, but they are also encouraged to discover their responsibilities to our classroom and community. They realize that they have a sense of self, but they also understand the importance of being kind to others. They know they can be mad, but they learn how to express it appropriately. We teach them how to ask for help, and when to ask for help – but also when to be independent. They are very capable, even though they have only been on the earth for four years. We help them to become people who can be true to themselves while also managing themselves in a bigger world.”  |
| Michele shares a few of her many favorite things about working with this age group, saying, “I love their enthusiasm. I love that my attention span matches theirs because I can relate to them. I love their sense of humor. I’ve often said of myself, ‘I could have fun in a paper bag,’ and I feel like each and every one of my students could do the same. I know that if I handed them each a paper bag, their immediate responses would be, “This is amazing! This is the BEST thing! What can we do with this?! I’ve had the BEST day!” Finally, Michele concludes, “I hope that children come away from their PreK experience at Parker with a love of learning and a love of communication. I am always asking them to write, to talk, to discuss things, to participate in morning meetings, to brainstorm, write a book, draw a picture…Here, we can show everybody what you did. What you did is amazing! I hope they remember their inventiveness and their “Wow” moments. I hope they remember to be curious and care about others. I hope they know that they are capable and that they are loved.”  Leigh Augustine, our Director of Early Childhood, shares our final thoughts saying, “PreK is a magical experience at Parker. The ability to explore, play, think big thoughts, feel your feelings, and exercise creativity is unparalleled. Throw in the chance to traverse a whopping 77 acres and you have a distinctly unique early childhood experience; one that simply would not exist without Michele’s dedication to the very young. Michele has acted as steward of our program over two decades, and her passion to honor the voices of children will certainly live on in her absence. *We invite you to honor Michele’s extraordinary legacy of early childhood learning by joining us in celebrating her at our Spring Benefit. You can show support by joining the Honorary Committee (CLICK HERE) or purchasing a general admission ticket (CLICK HERE) to our event. Your support ensures that Michele’s spirit, rooted in joy, discovery, and respect for every child’s voice, continues to thrive within our community. All proceeds from this event will support financial aid and innovative programming, sustaining the kind of meaningful, inquiry-driven experiences Michele has championed throughout her time at our school. |
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