Vanessa

"I applied kind of on a whim."

"The biggest part of my job every day is ensuring that other people's children have equal access to opportunity and education every day."

"we have our class community meeting we set ourselves up for what to expect through the day."

"having strong interpersonal skills is also deeply important as well as strong customer service skills"

"I get to play Foursquare with really cool kids every day."

"managing expectations can be really challenging when we're thinking about the needs of so many incredibly important people"

"There's been recent research around how children read that's debunked some of past practices and I love to continue learning how to do this better."

"People who typically thrive in education are people who enjoy being around children who get joy from tiny people for sure."

"This was the hardest job in the world. It really is the best job."

"Summer camps and internships are always really helpful to decide if working with kids is something that you're really interested in."

"Believe what people say about themselves."

"I picked the right undergrad experience for me. So I went to a small liberal arts college, and our motto was 'entered to learn, live to serve,'"

"Since becoming a parent, work-life balance has become a much stronger focus for me."