Spotlights
Monique Harris '01
Employer
Owner and Educator at Hope, Learn & Play LLC
1. Tell us about your journey since graduation.
I worked in retail management after graduation. Then I started a
licensed home daycare after having a baby in 2014. Then I relocated to
Orlando, Florida where I worked as the Marketing Director for Faith
Christian University. Wanting to do more for young children, I changed
careers and became a preschool teacher. During the pandemic, I was
working for the Orlando Science Center Preschool, where I was tasked
with creating an online curriculum for students that were homebound.
When the Science Center decided to cancel the program, I started Hope,
Learn & Play LLC and finished out the school year with my students.
2. Share a favorite Grand Valley memory.
My favorite GV memory was participating in a program called, The
Institute for Healing Racism. One of the participants came from a
racist family. He shared with us the harsh realities that created in
his life and how he was doing everything he could to change that
narrative for him and his future family.
3. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Never give up on your goals, even when it seems like every
obstacle is in your way. Keep moving forward to complete the task you
were placed on this Earth to do.
4. List three words you would use to describe your Grand
Valley experience.
Growth, discovery, and necessary!
5. What difference would you like to make in the world?
Educating parents and caregivers of the importance of exposure to
the world around them. I want to encourage intentional exploration,
modeling, and engaging their young learners as though they are little
people with thoughts, feelings, and emotions that need to be addressed
and not repressed. I want to contribute to eliminating traditional
parenting where we continue to pass down the bad habits of previous
generations, because that is all they know. I want to help mold our
future minds with early exposure to science, technology, engineering,
art and math concepts to prepare them for the future of education.
May 2021
Interest Area(s)
Marketing
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