Carolyn Koesters
Carolyn, her husband Nick, and daughter Calliope, a senior at AHS
What is your role at UWSWVA, and how long have you been a part of the team?
“I am a Childhood Success Manager, and I have been a part of the UWSWVA team for over five years.”
What is your favorite part of your job?
“I really enjoy connecting with the providers, and helping them in any way they need. We want to be a one-stop shop for all of the childcare providers’ questions. I enjoy speaking with the providers, figuring out how we can best support them, and hearing their goals.”
What does a typical day look like in your position?
“My days typically revolve around communication. We connect either individually or as part of a team on a daily basis. I could be working with a colleague on a grant that we have, or answering questions about the next Virginia Quality level. There’s a lot of collaboration within Childhood Success, we rely on each other to ensure we help as many people as possible. Then I usually check in with four or five providers, either by email or calling them, setting up trainings or in-person meetings. I might also attend webinars, trainings, or deliver sanitation supplies out to providers.”
What is your personal motivation?
“I like working with a team to make a difference in our region, supporting our youngest citizens, and being part of an organization that’s attempting real change on such a large scale. If we can help children in their most formative years, then they will be set up for success for their future. Then the cycle will repeat itself. The children we are helping right now will grow up, graduate, and hopefully give back to the community and help the next generation of children.”
Favorite event/program at UWSWVA?
“The annual Tender Loving Caregivers Conference is an event we put a lot of planning into, working with bringing in the best speakers on Early Education, and coming up with topics on professional development, classroom management, and self-care, just for our region’s awesome Child Care providers. Everyone has so much fun connecting, learning, and being together.”
What are some of your favorite hobbies?
“One of the things that I do outside of work is teach journaling workshops and memoir writing workshops. I’m a certified applied poetry facilitator, which means that I help others learn to use personal writing for healing and transformation, which I’ve done for over twenty years. Journaling is a super-helpful tool that anyone can do, and helps with stress, self-care, and reflection.”
What is a fun or unique fact about you?
“In the summer of 2020, I raised monarch butterflies at home during the COVID quarantine. I had considered the idea of raising monarchs before, and the quarantine gave me time to focus on something new. I learned how to find the eggs, take care of the caterpillars, feed them every day, and then tag and release them. By the end of September, I was able to release 97 healthy monarchs, which I felt good about, since monarch butterflies are basically endangered. I’m excited to do it again this summer.”
Do you have a quote or mantra that you always look to that is meaningful to your work here at UWSWVA?
“My quote is, “Action cures fear.” by David Schwartz. I chose this quote because sometimes a task can seem very difficult, too undefined, or even impossible, that it sometimes looms larger than necessary. By simply beginning a task, even in a small way, it can help define the problem and make it easier to understand, and ultimately, help you be successful in meeting the challenge.”
What was your very first job and how do you use a lesson you learned in that job still today?
“My first job out of college was as a ballroom dance instructor. I taught the very new, just beginning dancers, and I also choreographed wedding first dances. I think one of the things that I learned is just to really listen. Usually the reasons that folks had fears about dancing were not usually related to rhythm or physical coordination; they just lacked the confidence to dance. By listening to them, I found out what it was that they needed, and how they might find that while dancing. So in a dance lesson, they might also learn how to be a better partner, or they’re trying to find something that to enjoy that’s not stressful, or become more active. I use that skill every single day.”
Tell me about your favorite day at work in your current position you’ve ever had.
“A couple of years ago, I coordinated a book giveaway following a magician who kicked off our Campaign for Grade Level Reading. I was given the opportunity to be in charge of distributing 40,000 books, and they were all in one warehouse. I connected groups like schools, libraries, and after-school programs with large amounts of the books. One day, a semi-truck pulled up to the warehouse, and they packed up 10,000 books and drove off to distribute them in their area, and that was just super exciting to see, knowing that the books were going to end up in the hands of children who needed them. So many kids do not have a personal library at home, and supporting literacy and school readiness is very important to me.”
