Christina Mendonca, Early Interventionist, Most recently Atlanta Speech School (currently stay at home mom)

Candidate Statement

I am an early childhood special education teacher with experience in the private, public, and administrative sectors of education. Each setting has provided me with insight into how policy and community impacts educational environments. Early on in my career I discovered I had an innate curiosity to learn more about educational policy and how I could advocate for change to better support our youngest learners and their families. One way I acted on this curiosity was by becoming a GEEARS ambassador. As an ambassador I became more aware of the policy challenges and hopes for Georgia, as well as how to become a more effective advocate. As your Vice President of Public Policy and Community Awareness I promise to stay up to date on public policy and community events and share opportunities to advocate for change regularly. Additionally, I promise to listen to and explore any concerns or wonderings from the GAEYC community focusing on public policy.

Bio

As an educator and former marine mammal trainer I have extensive experience with non-profit and education based institutions. My education from Mount Holyoke College (B.A.) and Bank Street College (M.S.Ed) prepared me to be consistently informed on how public policy impacted the community I was serving. Most recently, through my role at the Atlanta Speech School, I supported multiple early childhood learning sites on their language and literacy program. Through this opportunity I learned about various communities across the Atlanta metro area and their concerns about early childhood language and literacy development. Together we developed action steps that supported their goals for the school year that resulted in learning for children, teachers, and families. This experience was incredibly rewarding, however as of recently I have taken on the new challenge of being a mom to a wonderful 4 month old!