My Autobiography By Cathy Schmidt March 2014

My story began in Milwaukee in the early 1970s. I grew up in a very close family, with one younger sister. My memories of childhood are good ones, filled with extended family and close friends spending time together. My parents both love to travel, and took my sister and I on many road and airline trips when we were children. This instilled in both of us a love for travel and learning about different places and people, as well as an open-mindedness about things that were different than our own experiences. I attended public schools for my entire life, starting out with Montessori schools for kindergarten through 5th grade. I believe this early focus on self-motivated learning laid the groundwork for my love of learning and personal drive and motivation. I was a quiet child who loved to read and was interested in many different subjects. My Montessori teachers nurtured my interests, allowing me to study things like animals, oceans, and volcanoes. I have been a teacher from the very start! I began babysitting as early as I could, around age 10 or 11. Even that young, I took pride in being a sitter who actively engaged children, rather than just plunking them in front of the television. I would even bring books, games, and planned activities with me when I babysat. My passion and drive paid off, as I developed a long list of client and was able to use babysitting as my main part-time job throughout high school. I went to college at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. I loved learning about a wide variety of subjects for those four years, and feel that my liberal arts education helped to make me a more well-rounded individual. Though I knew by then that I wanted to go into teaching very young children, Lawrence did not offer an Early Childhood major. I ended up majoring in Psychology, and

took all the education classes available to a non-major. I also developed a close relationship with my advisor, a developmental psychologist who sat on the board of a local childcare center. I did all my fieldwork for my education classes at that center, as well as using it for the basis of my senior thesis, which focused on quality in Early Childhood Education. After college, I moved back home and began working on my Masters Degree in Early Childhood at UW-Milwaukee. I lived at home for a few years, and found a job at Milestones, thinking I would work full time, get my degree, and then see what happened. I was immediately comfortable with the philosophy at Milestones, finding it similar to that of the center I had worked with during college. I started as an assistant teacher in a toddler room, and after less than a year, was promoted to head teacher. Through my first number of years at Milestones, I worked with a variety of age groups and with quite a few teaching teams, and I learned much from my colleagues and supervisors. By the time I finished my Masters, I knew that I had found both my career and my place to spend it! I loved being a teacher, especially developing relationships with the children and families and planning a room that would entice children to learn and explore. I thrived on the daily routines of running a classroom, but after a few years, I felt that I was ready for new challenges and wanted to become involved in my profession on a deeper level. My supervisors encouraged me to become involved in the local NAEYC affiliate. I began attending meetings, and eventually moved into officer roles on the Board. After about 10 years of being a classroom teacher at Milestones, I was asked to take on the job of Early Childhood Staffing Coordinator, which is my current title. In this role, I coordinate schedules and staffing in 13 classrooms, help supervise and train approximately 45 full- and parttime teaching staff, and sub almost every day with children ages 3 months through 10 years. I live alone (with my cat!) in my house in Bay View. I am still very close with my family, and enjoy

spending time with all of them, including my much-adored niece and nephew. I travel as often as I can, continue to read voraciously, and have a very supportive group of friends and acquaintances.