Hi, my name is Mary Szekely. Going into Senior Project I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just knew I didn’t want it to involve a lot of sitting inside writing on my laptop. I also knew I wanted to learn something new while cultivating a skill I had already begun to establish. That’s why when I found the option to work at the Open Meadow Schoolhouse in Ghent, New York, I knew it was worth looking into. The project of working there as a teaching assistant is an opportunity to work with kids (something I already do as a sleepaway camp counselor every summer), but in a new context. The age group is very young, (3-6 years old), and the education is based on the surrounding environment. It is a small academic space and most learning that the students do is creative.I never considered exploring early childhood education, but this would be a unique experience.  I love working with kids and this project is an opportunity for me to build on that passion while stepping outside my comfort zone and taking on the responsibility of both a caretaker and educator.

I will work as an intern and assistant at the Open Meadow Schoolhouse, which is run solely by a woman named Leslie Meyers. It is a small, one-room schoolhouse, with a forest on one side and a meadow on the other, so there is lots of room for outdoor play. The kids are ages 3-6, and they spend most of the school day outdoors, engaging with the environment around them. Using a “learn through play” philosophy, the school implements storytelling, crafting, baking, and gardening as tools to help kids develop basic cognitive skills and expand their creativity. I will be working with the children as an assistant teacher, and I will also have the responsibility of tending the garden and taking care of the many barn animals on the property. 

My work at the school will take place Monday through Wednesday. Because I have the commitment of my dance class in the city every Wednesday evening, and I cannot commute more than twice a week, I will be in the city for about half of the week. I will supplement the time I have outside of my project working on activities for the kids, and putting in extra hours to my dance class (culminating in a final performance in May) which is a passion of mine that I would like to lend my time to. This project is something that I am greatly looking forward to, and I hope for early-childhood education to become a solidified interest of mine by the end of it.