Throughout 2026, NAEYC is collecting stories from the early childhood education field, asking people across the country to tell us about their beginnings in the profession, the people who’ ve helped them along the way, and their hopes for the future. Many submitted reflections on their mentors. Here’ s a sampling:

There isn’ t really a day that goes by that I don’ t think about my kindergarten teacher. She made me want to go to school every day. I couldn’ t wait to be in front of her each morning and hear about what we were going to do that day. I remember that she often made a lot of the games and materials that she used with us. I loved it at the time, and as I began my own teaching, I borrowed so many of her ideas that inspired me.

“ Years later when I graduated from college and I was just starting to teach, I went back to my old elementary school to visit her. She recognized me immediately. She held my face in her hands and looked at me the same way she did so many years before. She had this incredible way of really seeing each child and making us feel special, worthy. That was the same look she gave me in that moment. I told her that she inspired me to become a teacher, and she cried with joy.”

— Amy-Marie Rivera, Los Angeles, California