Outstanding Student Organizations: Early Childhood Education Organizations

By: Jonathan Baca, Senior Reporter

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After five years dormancy, the Early Childhood Education Organization has been re-chartered by five student members, said Faculty Adviser Andrea Olguin.

Olguin said the stu­dents want the club to keep growing and invite those who have hopes to work with children professionally to join the ECEO.

“It’s fun to see that light bulb go on, when you know that they’ve mastered something or figured something out on their own,” said Early Childhood Multicultural major and club President Annie Sanchez.

The club members are students, as well as teach­ers working in the industry, said Sanchez.

The Early Childhood Education Organization is a small club with big goals, said Olguin.

The members recently raised enough money for a trip to the National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference in Atlanta, said Sanchez.

“It’s the cutting edge on techniques and strategies,” she said.

ECEO members will choose from hundreds of seminars hosted by some of the biggest names in early childhood educa­tion, said Sanchez.

“It’s a great oppor­tunity for anyone in the educational field,” she said, “to actually be able to talk with other profes­sionals around the country and around the world is an amazing experience.”

Olguin said members of the club are also mem­bers of the local chapter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

ECEO represented CNM at a local conference and addressed a crowd of educators from all over the state last March. The upcoming Atlanta trip is being made possible in large part because of a grant given by the NMAEYC, she said.

Many of the club mem­bers have never travelled outside of Albuquerque, and are grateful for the chance they have been given, said Olguin.

“Without help from CNM and our other spon­sors, it would be impos­sible for these students to go,” she said.

Sanchez said she hopes that with support from government and higher education institu­tions, the field of Early Childhood Education will be taken more seriously.

“There is a really big push now for Early Childhood educators to get their degrees,” she said.

“We’re more than glorified babysitters. We need to prove it by get­ting training.”

To find out more about the Early Childhood Education Organization con­tact Andrea at aolguin25@ cnm.edu.