Sherilyn Kaye Edwards has always had a passion for working with children. As a registered nurse and emergency medical technician, Sherilyn Kaye Edwards has had to face too many situations in which children were hurting and had to be saved. While Sherilyn Kaye Edwards has been thankful for her role in helping these children recover from their injuries and illness, it was clear that Sherilyn Kaye Edwards wanted an opportunity to interact with children while they were happy and healthy, not just when they were sick.

In her former role as a HeadStart teacher, Sherilyn Kaye Edwards was responsible for teaching children during their pre-kindergarten year. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards’s responsibilities in this position included teaching basic reading and writing skills and helping children become acclimated to an academic environment. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards saw this as an extremely important role and was eager to take it on.

When asked why she chose to teach pre-kindergarten, Sherilyn Kaye Edwards said this: “I believe that the way we are educated and raised has everything to do with our success later in life. If we can make a point to start children off on a good note, then they will continue to have a successful educational career and be valuable and happy members of society in later years.” Sherilyn Kaye Edwards hoped to help set children up for success through their time in the HeadStart program.

A notable difference between the program that Sherilyn Kaye Edwards participated in and other pre-kindergarten options is that HeadStart focuses on at-risk children who are from predominantly low-income families. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards chose this type of classroom for a specific reason: “These children need help and love more than most,” Sherilyn Kaye Edwards explained. “I was excited about helping them come up to a normal level and preparing them for a great, bright future.” The children in Sherilyn Kaye Edwards’s classroom were typically children who spoke English as a second language, often speaking Vietnamese or Spanish at home.

Through the HeadStart program, Sherilyn Kaye Edwards was able to teach many children, and to prepare them for the future.