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IdahoSTARS academic scholarships remove the financial barrier of higher education and make it easier for early care and education professionals to advance their academic journey. This is something Leslie Richard – a recent University of Idaho graduate – is very familiar with. As an IdahoSTARS scholar, she completed a degree in Early Childhood Education (birth through third grade general and special education) this month.
Leslie lives in the Post Falls area and has worked as an early childhood teacher for the last nine years. It was her experience in the classroom that fueled her desire to continue her academic career.
“There were so many kiddos coming through our program that had needs that I didn’t have the abilities or tools to be able to meet. We outsourced as many as we could, but all those amazing resources that are in the community – they can’t live in your classroom all the time. It almost felt like a disservice to those kids to not have the tools and resources in my toolbelt,” she said of making the initial decision to go back to school.
She learned about the IdahoSTARS academic scholarship program through her child care program director. The child care program was already part of the Steps to Quality Program – Idaho’s Quality Rating and Improvement System developed by IdahoSTARS. This voluntary program blends quality improvement and quality ratings to help child care centers and home-based programs improve the level of quality they offer to Idaho families. One way programs increase their quality rating is if 50% or more of staff meet increased professional development requirements including higher education.
“It helps the program, and it helps me because I have this desire to go back. My boss introduced that to me and I was really excited. It gave me the incentive to think I can make this happen.”
Last year alone, IdahoSTARS awarded 58 students nearly $200,000 in scholarship funds. The program is currently supporting 36 scholars across eight different colleges and universities in Idaho. The Project supports continued education to help professionals gain skills at every stage of their career. Ultimately, it’s about creating better outcomes for Idaho’s children.
It also helps to create better outcomes for scholars. For Leslie, receiving an IdahoSTARS scholarship made it possible for her to return to school. “Being a stay-at-home mom initially, we didn’t have the finances saved up to be able to go to school without going into major debt. I know this is a dream that I want to fulfill, and my husband was 100% willing to support me. We just didn’t have the finances on that fixed of an income,” she said.
“As soon as I knew that it was a possibility, I immediately put in for the academic degree scholarship through IdahoSTARS … we scraped by for a little bit and then the scholarship came through. It allowed me to take all the credits that I could and actually provide for our kids at the same time. It was such an amazing blessing.”
The scholarship not only made it possible for her to gain the skills needed to provide more immediate support to children with additional needs in her classroom, but she’s confident that she can now set them up to thrive through their entire academic journey.
“Basically, this sets me up for success no matter what I do. It gave me the ability to go back to school as well as the possibility to gain the knowledge and wisdom that I have to pour into kiddos. That is my ultimate goal – being able to help kids not only regulate themselves socially and emotionally but to be able to further their own education. To take them from where they are now to where they need to be in the future,” she said.
Beyond professional development, the benefits of this IdahoSTARS academic scholarship could be felt through Leslie’s personal life as well. The additional financial security meant not having to find a second job. It meant she had more time to spend with her family. She was able to set an example for her kids and demonstrate the positive outcomes that came from pursuing her goals.
“It was a really cool thing to be able to set that example for my kids. We would sit at the kitchen table and do homework together and it would show them that, ‘Hey, we can do hard things together. We can do this. We can accomplish this.’
“There were moments when I was taking college math and my daughter was taking high school math, but they would have similar topics. I could say, ‘I know what you’re doing right now. I can help you with this.’ Or there was a moment when I was struggling and she said, ‘Oh, I just learned this in math,’ so she was able to help me. It was that perseverance factor and support. It was so cool.”
Leslie also built a new community of support in her life through her time at the University of Idaho. Classmates, professors, advisors – she developed an “academic family” who helped her throughout her journey. Overall, her experience was overwhelmingly positive, and she can’t wait to put it all into practice, helping the children in her classroom succeed.
While she may be finished with her degree, Leslie will continue to work with IdahoSTARS for on-going professional development to help maintain their program license and certification. Engagement in the IdahoSTARS Professional Development System (PDS), provides an array of specialized trainings and opportunities that help improve knowledge, competence, skill and effectiveness. Even better, eligible child care providers can receive PDS incentives and recognition for completing their trainings.
Through these services, the Project is helping to elevate child care providers across the state – something that Leslie has seen firsthand.
“It gets the profession to a higher level … The programs I’ve seen that are certified through IdahoSTARS and are in that Steps to Quality program have been noticeably higher quality than other programs I have seen in the area,” she said.
“I’ve been able to talk to a few other people who have benefitted from IdahoSTARS professional development. It incentivizes them to be better for the field they’re in. It’s a really cool thing. I had two younger gals that I was doing one of my internships with. They were both able to use their IdahoSTARS incentives to go back to school. It was amazing.”
When asked what advice she would give to anyone considering a similar path to hers, she said, “Follow your dreams. Know there’s support in place for you to be able to get to that next level … There is a saying that I learned about kids being like a three-legged stool. If the school, the family and the community can band together, we can hold kids up and help them raise to a higher level. If we can all work together, it guarantees their success so much more.”
Along with our professional development system, IdahoSTARS is currently offering four academic scholarship options for early care and education professionals:
You can find more information about each, including how to apply, by checking out the Academic Scholarships page on our website.