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[Music] Hello Blue Jays and welcome to the nest stories about life after Manor College. I am your host Kelly Peiffer vice president of marketing communications and this is the best part of my day. My hope is that this podcast will encourage, inform, and inspire you, making you feel like at Manor College, you belong here always. Before we get to today's guest, it is time for a segment of the show I like to call did you know? Did you know that Manor College is ranked among the top two safest campuses

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for colleges and and um institutions in the entire United States with nearly 4500 colleges and universities across the United States, 400 of them being in Pennsylvania alone, being ranked as the second safest college by stateuniversity.com. Manor College has made this list multiple times being ranked number three and number two. This list was compiled by analyzing clearary and FBI data on the following categories. Number of weapon occurrences, drugs, burglary, vehicle threat, the theft, arson, larseny,

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robbery, non-forceable rape, and more. This um report came out a few years ago and Manor College is very proud to be the number two safest college in the United States. Dr. Peri, our president, has said that if we are not safe, we cannot learn. And I totally agree and I think that's a really important factor to any college campus. Obviously safety is number one. Our you belong here statement invites everyone at Manor to learn and study obviously safely. So some things that we do here at Manor to

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keep our campus safe. We have an ID badge system for entry on all the doors and buildings on campus. We have centralized doors so people have to enter through specific doors that have security cameras on them. We have a full staff of public safety officers who serve our community 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Yes, they are here on Christmas. They are here on Fourth of July. They are here on weekends at 2 in the morning. Um, we have someone fully dedicated to keeping our campus safe. We have a very close

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relationship with the Abington Township Police Department and other local officials. Our public safety team handles campus patrolling, investigation of incidents, victim assistance, and educational programs. And our protective measures include a utilization of a campus-wide notification, e alert system, and other communication systems. So obviously at Manor College, being safe is a top priority. I am honored now to welcome today's alumni guest. Today we have a awesome alumni guest from Brooklyn and then Philadelphia who has

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dedicated um pursuing higher education while balancing motherhood and a career. This alumni is not only an accomplished second grade teacher in the school district of Philadelphia, but also a proud graduate of Mayor College from the class of 2016 where she earned her associates degree in early childhood education. Please join me in welcoming Leslie Harris. Hi Leslie, welcome. Hi, thank you for having me. Thank you so much for being on the nest. We're so excited to talk to you today. So, um I know you're on spring break right now,

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which kudos to you and a well well-deserved rest for you teachers, but kind of take us back to how did you choose Manor College? How did you hear about Manor and kind of what made you want to attend the institution? Um I heard about Manor College from actually one of my co-workers at the time. I was working at a daycare center and I had previously attended Cheney for a little bit and then this life happened. I had a child so I started working full-time and she kept saying, "Oh, go to Manor. Go to Manor. You

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you'll love it. It'll be so, you know, it'll be so great for you." And my director at the time was like, "Get your associates degree and just take baby steps." So, I put it off for a while and then I got pregnant with my second child and I'm like, "Okay, these kids cannot get, you know, kindergarten diplomas before me. I have to do something." And I went down. I applied and everyone was just so nice and just welcomed me with open arms. And that's how I started going to Manor. I was about maybe I want to say

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about five months pregnant at the time and I just started attending classes. Oh, wow. That that is so cool. Um we often have students who are either currently parents or who are expecting. Um a lot of people don't realize that actually 30% of our student body are full-time caretakers. So like they are either working parents or they're taking care of like their parents possibly or even grandparents. So that's awesome for you to be able to pursue that. And I like how you put it. My kids aren't

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going to get kindergarten diplomas before mom mom gets hers. Um well well put and obviously I'm so glad you were able to accomplish that. So kind of what was your um how did you know that education was something that you wanted to pursue and kind of what was it about education that kind of lit your fire and made you passionate? I've always wanted to be a teacher like since little when all my cousins and friends they were practicing being a mommy. My dolls and bears were my students. I named them. I gave them assignments that

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obviously they didn't do, but it was just something that I always enjoyed. And then my younger sister, shout out to her. She was one of my students. She was my only live student, so she got the brunt of the work and the projects, but I enjoyed just teaching her and watching her learn her alphabet and learn how to add. She went to kindergarten very prepared because she unfortunately went to school at Leslie's private school. It was just so fun. And from that point on, I just was always passionate about watching

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kids learn new things, like those aha moments. Oh, that's great. I love that. Um, I totally can see like a little kid playing with their dolls and their stuffed animals, like school. Um, I have a four-year-old daughter and she's really into playing house and school and mommy and sets everything up. And I'm totally living that right now. and um if she wants to become a teacher one day, I'm all about it because I think it's a great passion. It's a great field. We certainly need more teachers.

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We need teachers who want to be teachers um and want to kind of pour into the next generation. So, thank you so much for what you're doing. So, kind of how how did Manor help you get to where you knew you wanted to go and like um like your boss said, take those baby steps and get in that associates degree and kind of what was your experience like when you were a student? I think the biggest hurdle that I had going into Manor was myself. Like I really was like, well, I know I'm going to have to do student teaching. I was thinking so

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far ahead that I was blocking myself. And at the time, um, Mrs. Crosby, she was one of my advisers and one of my professors, and she would always just talk to me and say like, "You can do this." you know, when things got really hard, I always had someone, whether it was someone in the financial aid office, someone in admissions, like it didn't even matter. Sometimes, I'm pretty sure some of the people that I spoke to, they encouraged me in areas that they probably didn't even work in. It was just like whoever was there was always

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like, "No, you can do this. I remember you came in and you were pregnant, now you have the baby." There was always just a push to keep going. And that's how I got through. I was a nursing mom. Um, I had uh Miss Crosby let me use her office to pump during classes. I had, you know, professors who helped me with independent study when I was the only person who needed a specific class and there was no one else at the time to register for that class. Like I had a lot of support and just a lot of encouragement and that just pushed me to

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to continue and keep going forward. Oh, that's so great. I love I love those stories and I love hearing that like you felt so supported. So then it's like iron sharpens iron, you know, like if you feel supported and you feel loved and poured into, then you're going to pass that along to someone else and you're going to keep going and pursuing because you're feeling like, well, they're they're supporting me, so I got to show up and I got to get the work done and I got to get that degree. Um, how cool. And how cool that you felt

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supported from not just like your adviser or your professor, but like kind of random people in random offices who might not even know your full story, your full situation, but just like I think that really speaks too to like the Manor community we have here. Um, you know, we're small and that's okay. Small is not always a bad thing and we're small. Um, but as to say that we're we're also mighty in that and like we do want to help everybody regardless of who they are, where they come from, what

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they're doing, what major they're in. it doesn't really matter. Um, if you're a part of our community, we're going to find ways to help you. So, that's really cool that you had that experience and particularly going through a major life change with having a newborn. It's your, you know, now you have two kids, now you have to pump and feed and just all those things. It's hard. Um, but I mean, what a cool thing for your kids. even if they don't remember mom going to school while I was a kid, like they're

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that's going to have an impact on them in some way, whether it's short-term or long term, it's going to impact them. So, I mean, you obviously were changing your family tree by doing that. So, that's really really cool. Um, and just I'm so impressed by that story. So, what um tell us about what was it like transitioning because you you graduated from Manor with your associate as an early childhood education which is a great degree and we still have we have that degree today. Um and then you went

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into Chestnut Hill and what did you what degree did you pursue at Chestnut Hill? At Chestnut Hill I did early childhood studies. Um, and it's funny because my transition to Chest in the Hill was really interesting, too, because if I remember correctly, I think I finished my coursework at Manor in December of um 2015, but I had to wait until May in order to graduate. And Miss Crosby was like, "Well, why don't you get started at Chestnut Hill?" So, I started at Chestnut Hill, not even completely finishing with Manor, and it kind of

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like over overlapped. And at the time, again, like I said, certification was like a really big thing. Like, having to take off to do student teaching was scary. Like, I'm like, there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. And I actually didn't do that. So, that's how I ended up doing early childhood studies. And again, back to Manor again, Miss Crosby has been like my backbone to this day. Like I still keep in contact with her. Just do it. Remember, we're doing baby steps. Do it. You'll have your bachelors that'll put

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you in a better position. And when student teaching time comes, we'll handle that when we get there. And that's what I did. And I actually finished at Chestnut Hill in 2017. So only one year. Yeah. Oh, that's great. I think it's such a good reminder, too, that like so many times people try to market to you like like accelerated degrees, take things fast, you know, like a one year, a one-year program, a 15-month program. You know, everyone we we assume that everyone wants everything like super fast, but that's not always

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the case. That doesn't always fit in your life. So, I think it's really good to hear like the reality of like, no, I have children. I'm working. I I can't do things super fast. Yes, I'm taking baby steps and like you're still going to get there and that's okay. I think that's a really good reality check. I think so many times our culture we just get I don't know associated with like fast speed and patience and you were patient, you were deliberate and getting you know those baby steps done. So you said

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that you were working while you were a student. Where did you work at the daycare still? Is that where you were working? I did. So after I got my associates, I became a Head Start teacher. Nice. And that was really rewarding and fun. And then I actually won the Terry Lynn Loff award um that that following year. So that was another exciting chapter for me. And can you explain for our listeners what that what that is exactly and what that means and not everyone might be familiar with that. So, the Terry Lynn uh Looff

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Teacher Award, it's an award awarded to early childhood educators who show um expertise and passion for their field. And one of the things that you have to do in order to qualify for the award is you have to do like a passion project that benefits the kids. So, I did equity and diversity in the classroom and what I did was I created um these mu not murals but like a collage like a wall collage where every student had like a really big frame and they could put whatever they wanted in that frame so that they could be visible

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in the classroom. So outside of like their regular work that they did, if they wanted to put pictures of their family or if they wanted to display their own artwork that maybe didn't have anything to do with what was necessarily thought, every child had like just a little slice of the classroom that was theirs to do whatever they wanted to do. And um as far as I know, I think they still do it in that classroom cuz I did leave everything behind when I, you know, transitioned over to the school district, but I still do it in my

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classroom now. not as big cuz I don't have as much wall space, but I still do it cuz I think it's important. The same way how we keep our personal pictures, you know, of our family on our desk, like the kids don't have that. So, having just a little slice of personal in the classroom, I think really links in who they are to the room. Oh, I love that so much. I mean, kids just want to see their stuff on display for sure. Um, it was so funny over the weekend. I was going on my our TV at home and my son wanted to watch

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something and and it was on YouTube and YouTube said recommended for you the Nest and it was this podcast and it was my face and my son was like mom you're on YouTube and I was like yeah like it's not that hard to do but okay. But all he cared about was that he saw he goes wait that's my picture. He saw this rainbow here. This is a framed picture that he drew for me. Um, he goes, "Mom, I I made that. I my picture's on YouTube." But like, that's so cool that you were able to incorporate that into a learning

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environment, a classroom environment, and just make those kids feel seen and included. And then also, you were able to get some kind of really cool recognition for it. So, that's awesome. So happy for you. Um, so what is it like working in the school district of Philadelphia and how has that now you're a second grade teacher in a classroom? How big's your class size? And kind of what has that been like? Working for the school district of Philadelphia has definitely changed me a lot as an

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educator only because it's such a big district and there's so many different moving parts. Being in second grade, I did kindergarten first and then I did second grade. Just seeing that like as they get older, when you know a second grader like in your everyday life, you know them in one way. Knowing them as a learner is totally different. Like they're still inquisitive. They still want to know things. They question everything. And being in such a big district, there are guidelines that you have to follow. So, it really taught me

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like how to balance the expectations of parents of districts because I feel like when you're in pre-k, parents kind of really don't know and they look to you a lot to kind of help them find their voice as a parent or help them kind of figure out what it is that they want for their child. By second grade, they pretty much know. So now it's more of you transitioning into supporting different families and what they need and what they see for their child or what their family values are. So that's been really eyeopening. It's

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been I don't want to say challenging but challenging in like a good way and like oh wow every year I have to figure out my new set of families. What do they need from me? How can I best support them? What do they believe? What's important to them? So that's been really really um interesting. and also just being confident in myself that I can teach second grade math and ELA and sharpening up my phonics skills, all of those things. It's been really rewarding. That's awesome. I love how you kind of

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are talking about like I I'm supporting the parents and the families opposed to it being kind of flipped and that's really good. And um how many students do you have in your class? I have 18 students right now. Okay. Um, my school is very one of the very few schools that has um the opportunity to have 18 students. I have no idea how my principal is pulling it off, but we have more coming in. Um, but I have 18, so but usually we usually have about 30. Wow. Yeah. Oh my goodness. That that you're you're an

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angel. Absolute angel. That's incredible. Well, thank you so much for what you're doing and all that you're doing. Um, yeah. So, as we kind of wrap up, Leslie, what would you say is some advice that you have for college students, whether they want to be teachers eventually or they want to do something else, but they know they're college students, they're kind of they might have families, they might have other expectations in their life that they're doing. Um, what would you say to them as someone who's kind of been

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there, done that, and kind of on the other side? My advice to I guess incoming college students, especially if you want to be a teacher, is like we talked about before, taking baby steps. Really figuring out your long-term goals and your short-term goals and figuring out how to achieve them because things change all the time. Opportunities arise all the time. One of the things that um I did along my journey after I finished my bachelor's, I took my certification test, but I didn't get certified until three years

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later. So, just doing things in little chunks and having a good support system, having people that believe in you, and just continue to believe in yourself, then eventually you'll like, "Wow, I did a lot." Yeah. Right. Those little chunks add up. Those baby steps get you there. I always love there's this great illustration of like um some like two ladders and someone's climbing a ladder with a lot of little steps and they're like they're getting there but the steps are really close together and someone

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else is climbing a ladder with a really big steps but the steps are so big they can't even reach the next step and it's like showing the little steps actually get you to the top faster than those big giant steps. So, I feel like your story is so much of that parallel. Like, take those baby steps. You're still going to get there, you know, and um believe in yourself. Obviously, having self-confidence is really important cuz also like you're pouring into the next generation. So, like they got to

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see that, you know, Leslie's believing in herself so that these little guys see that too and they they do that as well. So, thank you so much for all that you are doing for um Philadelphia, for these children, for these families, and just pouring into them. I know how important teachers are, and I totally believe in the power of education. So, thank you so much for living that out. I also want to just tie together that, you know, Manor, our the last line in our mission, and I love tying this in when I

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can. The last line of the last line in our mission says that Manor we um educate students to graduate to go on to serve society effectively and compassionately. So like ideally we want Manor students to be out there in the world doing good things for society and I feel obviously feel very strongly that you are a walking testament of that and are doing that. So, thank you so much for truly like encapsulating our mission and turning it around and serving children, families, all that you're doing. It's really, really powerful and

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I hope our listeners are encouraged and inspired by you because I know I certainly am today. Thank you so much, Leslie, for being with us today and I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you for having me and thank you for just letting me get my start at Manor and just keep doing great things. Thank you for tuning in today. Hey, if you like what you heard, listen and subscribe on Spotify or YouTube. Stay up-to-date with all new episodes by following Manor College on Instagram, Manor College. And that's a wrap on another episode of The

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Nest, stories about life after Manor College. Remember, Blue Jays, you belong here always. [Music]