Griswold Staffer Earns Credential

posted 2/23/24 -- Chelsea Stubbs has wanted to work at LCCAA Head Start since she was a student in the program’s Hamilton Center.

Now in her third year working part-time at Griswold Head Start, Stubbs is ready to move into a full-time role now that she has earned her Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. The CDA is considered the foundational credential for early childhood education professionals.

“I’ve always worked with kids. I want to retire from here,” she said. “You’re teaching them what school is like. You’re their first teacher. I want them to be excited to come to school.”

Stubbs especially values her education as she helps students navigate their first school experience as the first post-COVID generation.

“They don’t understand their emotions. They don’t know how to deal with them,” she said, adding that her education has provided her with new tools to help. “It teaches you everything. And it helps me as a mom.”

Stubbs earned her CDA through the University of Cincinnati, just in time for her last birthday. The Elyria native had two aunts who taught in the LCCAA Head Start program for several years. Her daughter has also been a Head Start student at LCCAA’s partner, Little Lighthouse.