Hinesburg Resident Earns Early Education Award
Jen Olson receives the Emerging Leader Award
The Hinesburg Record
Hinesburg’s Jen Olson received the Emerging Leader Award handed out this fall by the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children (VTAEYC). The award recognizes an individual who has shown significant leadership development over their career to date and inspired others to positively affect children, families, and the early childhood education community.
Olson is an early childhood educator at Quarry Hill Preschool in Middlebury, and a member of the early-childhood-educator-led task force working to advance early childhood education as a profession in Vermont. To read a 2024 commentary she wrote about her work, click here.
In addition to Olson’s award, VTAEYC presented awards that recognize excellence and advocacy among individuals at all career stages who are working both within and in support of early childhood education. The awardees are:
Early Childhood Educator of the Year: Jen Ricker, Brattleboro
Distinguished Service Award: Christina Nelson, North Troy
Outstanding Member Award: Alexandria Whitcomb, Graniteville
Student of the Year Award: Hannah Woods, Bennington
Children’s Champion Awards:
Senator Alison Clarkson, Woodstock
Senator Becca White, White River Junction
Senator Brian Collamore, Rutland
VTAEYC advances excellence and equity in early childhood education as the state’s largest membership organization for early childhood educators and is the state affiliate of NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Formed 50 years ago by a grassroots effort and now with more than 500 members, VTAEYC provides advocacy, workforce development, professional development, and other resources to support early childhood educators. VTAEYC works to strengthen today’s workforce and build a more equitable early childhood education system for the future. Learn more at vtaeyc.org.