Waldo County Technical Center’s (WCTC) Early Childhood and K - 8 Education program has been reinstated and redesigned after a several year hiatus.

The program’s instructor, Jennifer Howard, has been working in early childhood education for 30 years, and even taught educators through the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC). She owned and operated Helping Hands Childcare, in Belfast, for 12 years, and she was voted Best of the Best five years in a row.

Howard is a published author, having written seven children’s books and an early childhood textbook. She is also a mother of three, and a prolific fiber artist whose online presence can be found at Acorns and Inchworms on Instagram.  

When asked why she decided to pursue a career at the Tech Center, Howard stated that she hadn’t worked with young adults yet, but had really enjoyed engaging with and educating parents in the past. She feels it is important to impart the knowledge she has gained through her years of experience.

“I am able to give them a perspective that they don’t have," she said, in a WCTC news release. "I have insight into what teachers should know.” 

If there is one thing Howard would like students to take away from her class, it would be that “wherever they go in their career and life and in the lives of children, hopefully they will remember to meet the child where they are.”