Student Story:

Paula Tabor: Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education

I walked into the office of April Grace in the Spring of 2016. I vividly remember being so nervous because I was working 2 jobs, raising 2 boys, single full-time mom. But I knew I had to make a change. I couldn’t continue with where I was in life. I grew up in extreme poverty and my ACT score was a 10. 

It took me a while to openly admit that and not be afraid to say it. I endured a lot in my childhood, as a teenage mom, and dropped out of college twice. Life had become extremely hard. I wanted so much more for my boys and my life. I felt it in my heart as well, God put a calling on my life for this.  

So, as I sat there with Miss April, she talked with me about where I was in life and what I wanted to get out of this. I wanted my Associate in IECE (Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education). April and I talked more. She knew my concerns, and she knew I was in a hard place in life. In order for me to go back to college, I had to quit my second job. I knew I was in for a long, bumpy road, but I always told myself, “The time will pass anyway, so you might as well make use of it.”

April looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to finish this, and I have a feeling you’re going to keep going.” She spoke life into me before I even saw it in myself. I started MCC that fall. The IECE program helped me grow in so many ways, especially the way April Grace taught us. She was present; she was hands-on; she cared. It made all the difference. We were taught with passion, and as students, we began to see and understand what Early Childhood Development really was.  

As a mother of two young boys, it really opened my eyes. It’s like I began to see life through new lenses. I connected the dots of my childhood and completely started to understand how my early years of life impacted me as a person, friend, sister, and especially a mother.  

I wanted to break the generational curses that plagued my family for decades. Slowly, but surely, I crawled my way through each semester. I had to take it slow because being a full-time mom with 2 active boys was hard. I worked and would tote my homework with me to their baseball and basketball games. We struggled together, but our bond became stronger.

I truly implemented what was taught to me in my classes at MCC with Miss April. It worked, and it worked in the classroom with the kiddos I had the privilege to teach. I grew each semester, and the program couldn’t have had a better teacher for the job. April allowed us to lead and make mistakes. She helped shape all of us during those semesters to be the absolute best teachers we could be.  

I would have never dreamed that I would have gone on for my Bachelors, but with the love and support of my family, the support of the IECE program at MCC, the support from April Grace, and the determination to give my boys the life I never had, I kept going. And I can honestly say, had it not been for that day in the office of April Grace, making those decisions and having the support of the program, I would not be where I am today.  

I went on to graduate with my Bachelors in IECE at Northern Kentucky University. It took me 5 ½ years to complete my Associates and Bachelors, but it was absolutely worth every second. It changed the lives of myself and my boys. I beat the odds, and I am now in a role where I am a Home Base Educator. I teach, but I go to the homes and develop relationships with these families.  

Many of the families are single-family homes and Impoverished, something I can absolutely relate to. I dove in and dug deeper with my families. Almost all of them were in the same boat I was in, stuck but didn’t know where to start to make a change.  

Want to know what I explained to them? The time will pass anyway. My families took that and ran. They knew my story, and I wasn’t giving up on them just like Miss April did with me. I know what it’s like to be where they're at. In this school year, I have gotten 3 single moms into college. One graduates this spring. They are doing it! They are breaking their generational curses, and this is where we can begin to change the world and the lives of so many children and families.

It is such a blessing that I am given this chance to teach and build these relationships with these amazing families. This is why God put this calling on my life. My oldest son took the initiative because he saw that hard work pays off. He is in the early graduation program and will graduate this year, a year early and start MCC in the fall. He is going into the medical field. He told me that he was ready to get his education and get his career going, because ‘The time will pass anyway.’  

In the pictures that you see, it is me at my office which I always dreamed of having. On my desk are the pictures of my amazing boys when I graduated with my Associates and Bachelors. The apple is extremely sentimental because I will never forget the day Miss April gave it to me. She had switched to the new building and said, “Hey you want that; you can put it on your desk one day.” with a big smile on her face. I kept it in my kitchen for years as a reminder of why I’m doing this. Six years later, it sits on my desk. I am so grateful for the IECE Program, for MCC, and for April Grace. It all changed my life, and it HAS had a ripple effect, because now I am speaking life into these families just like Miss April did with us, and they are shooting for the stars!