This year, we added PreK to the four Partnership Schools in Cleveland that did not already have it. This initiative involved months of work preparing classrooms, curricula, and teachers, as well as navigating Ohio’s high standards for getting a PreK program approved.
Simply enrolling a student in PreK involves a lot of work. It takes over twenty documents, forms, and other steps to register a single child in Ohio-funded PreK. It can be easier to get a mortgage on a house. This, for instance, is just part of a spreadsheet our Partnership team used to track the documents and steps needed to enroll one of our PreK classes:
Sometimes, in the middle of all that paperwork and the lengthy to-do lists involved in getting PreK started, we were reminded exactly why we do this work. I got this reminder from a little boy with a big smile and an even bigger heart.
I had the pleasure of spending time with a little boy named Noah during his preschool meet-and-greet. Noah couldn’t wait to show his new teachers everything he already knew. He proudly shared his letters, colors, sounds, and shapes. He wanted everyone in that classroom to see just how much he had learned and how ready he was to be a preschooler.
And then, at the end of our time together, Noah looked up at me and asked something that absolutely melted my heart.
“Do they know that I do a good job? I want them to know how smart I am.”
In that moment, my heart could have burst.
I gave Noah a big hug and told him,“Noah, you are perfect just the way you are. You don’t have to prove anything to anybody. You are already a brilliant young man.”
And just like that, his entire face lit up.
He smiled from ear to ear.
He couldn’t wait to tell his grandpa and his mom that he was going to be a brilliant young man who changes the world.
While he was so focused on showing us everything he knew, he was teaching me something, too.
He reminded me that children don’t just come to school to learn their letters, numbers, shapes, and sounds. They come to school hoping to be seen. To be celebrated. To belong. To know that the adults around them believe in who they are and who they are becoming.
He reminded me that behind every enrollment form, licensing requirement, building inspection, and unexpected obstacle is a little person with enormous dreams, waiting for someone to tell them they are capable of achieving them.
And he reminded me that a child’s brilliance doesn’t begin when we recognize it. It’s already there. Our job is to help them see it in themselves.
Mackenzie Wallace is the Director of Early Elementary Learning at Partnership Schools.
