Graduate of Birth Through Five Education Program Inspired by Her Children

By Claire Miller

ATLANTA — In 2010, Shanequa Sims (B.S.Ed. ’24) was working at the front desk at the South DeKalb Family YMCA when a full-time position became available at the YMCA Academies of South DeKalb. She took the job and enrolled her young sons in the YMCA’s preschool program.

When her older son was diagnosed with ADHD, she had direct access to early intervention services at the YMCA, which had a meaningful impact on her son and inspired her to consider a career path in early care and education.

“There was just something about being able to be a resource to families of children with possible developmental barriers, like the program had been to me, that kept me wanting to stay and learn more,” she said of the experience. “Being able to help shape and mold young children into tomorrow’s leaders is a privilege.”

Sims applied to the College of Education & Human Development’s (CEHD) birth through five undergraduate program, and with the help of some key funding opportunities, she was able to keep her full-time job while attending school.

Project SEED, funded by the Early Educator Investment Collaborative and led by CEHD faculty members Tonia Durden and Stacey French-Lee, works with several local partner schools and organizations to remove any barriers that would block students from diverse backgrounds from applying and successfully completing a degree in birth through five education.

Sims also qualified for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning’s DECAL Scholars program, which provides financial support to increase the number of well-qualified and credentialed early childhood educators in Georgia.

“The program provided flexibility to working adults like me,” she said. “Because of the partnership with my employer, I was still able to work and was provided coverage if I needed to leave early or be out for classes, practicums and student teaching.”

In addition to her coursework, Sims participated in a study abroad trip to Greece in fall 2023 and has been volunteering with Softer Touch, a community service-focused organization for women of color at Georgia State. They mentor local high school students and host several service events throughout the year, including clothing and toy drives, campus clean-ups and more.

She also joined the college’s Professional Education Faculty Student Advisory Council, which gives students the opportunity to meet with faculty twice a year to give feedback on their learning experiences.

“The students are the ones impacted by the courses and advisement,” she said. “If it isn’t fully beneficial to us, faculty should know that so changes can be made. It’s also a time for us to brag about what works, too. We appreciate someone caring enough to want to hear our voices and perspectives.”

Sims originally planned to graduate in 2023, but she was diagnosed with marginal zone non-Hodgkins’ lymphoma in late 2022. She pushed back her student teaching semester to go through chemotherapy treatments, and she’s now in remission.

“I thought I was going to have to drop out of school altogether, but through my accommodations and my fantastic team of birth through five program advisers and professors, I was able to still complete some of my courses online and push through another semester,” she said. “I’m currently in remission, but completing my degree program was one of my biggest reasons to help fight through my journey. It was a personal goal of my own that I was determined to complete, and look at me now.”

After graduating this fall, Sims plans to continue working at the YMCA to provide early childhood education opportunities to urban communities and to put into practice what she’s learned from her professors and peers.

“The birth through five cohort is filled with some of the most caring, helpful, resourceful, hard-working people I have ever met. And the CEHD has some of the most outstanding professors and program advisers that Georgia State could ever have,” she said. “Faculty members Tonia Durden, Chenyi Zhang, Stacey French-Lee, Yemimah King and Jennifer Johnston have all provided me with an abundance of teaching tools to carry on to my little learners and their families.”