Kaitlin S.

“ I am a rising sophomore honors student at Sweet Briar College, majoring in Biology and in English and Creative Writing. Although I am not studying education or child development, they are subjects I have been interested in for as long as I can remember. My mother is a Montessori teacher, so I grew up hearing about Montessori philosophy and planes of development. I began working as a child care provider when...

I am a rising sophomore honors student at Sweet Briar College, majoring in Biology and in English and Creative Writing. Although I am not studying education or child development, they are subjects I have been interested in for as long as I can remember. My mother is a Montessori teacher, so I grew up hearing about Montessori philosophy and planes of development. I began working as a child care provider when I was 12. A family friend hired me to be a mother's helper - to take care of her 18-month-old son while she worked from home during the day three days per week over the summer. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and worked for her again the following summer. For the next several years, I provided evening babysitting for several local families during the school year and daytime babysitting during the summer for one of them. At 15, I spent the summer working as a summer camp counselor for a local Montessori school, where I gained experience working with children ages 3 to 6 in large groups. I helped them with craft projects and with creating dance routines for a summer camp show, and I supervised them during field trips to the pool. The summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I worked as a babysitter/nanny for three families, each for several weeks at a time. For the first family, I watched and entertained two boys ages 6 and 8 during the day while their parents were at work for several weeks. I cooked lunch with them, explored the outdoors with them and their dog, gardened, read, and played the recorder with them. For the second family, I spent afternoons two or three days a week with 3-year-old twins and their 5-year-old sister, playing dress-up, doing craft projects, and making healthy snacks. For the third family, I watched three sisters ages 3, 4, and 5 during the afternoons. I played house with them, supervised them on the swing set and during craft projects, and moderated disputes.

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