Dr. Christy Kastl

I think the people around me. Having your family, of course your family has to be supported - your husband, your wife, whoever you have, your partner. But find strong individuals that are like you, that are willing to help hold you when you feel like you're gonna fall. Have those strong ladies. I belong to, I'm a board of 3 nonprofits, and there's one that I've been in for years and years, and those strong ladies - you have to follow them, and they're there for you. Use your support system, find good leadership like my leadership team that I work with every day - we're there for each other. So definitely find those support systems that are the same like minds as you, that when you need that support, they're there for you.

Don't give up. I got my master's degree when I was pregnant with one of my kiddos - it's very hard. I have a best friend, and it's taken her twice as long as she thought. I'm like, it doesn't matter how long it takes. I always tell people, if it takes you 10 years, it takes you 10 years. Don't give up. Do what you're passionate about. Find a program that will be willing to work with you - I know some of them have timelines - but find a program that works best for you, and don't give up. If it's taking one class at a time, that's one class closer to graduating. I always tell people, maybe this summer you have more time, take more classes, make up those times you didn't take as many classes, but don't ever give up. I know it takes time, but there is a way to make it work.

I would definitely tell them it is worth it 100%. Some people say master's degrees aren't worth it - I'm like yes, it is, you want to be the professional. Do what's best for you, because I know sometimes, looking back, I kind of wish I hadn't taken breaks between each degree, but me taking breaks allowed me to get married and then allowed me to have kids. So taking breaks is okay. It's okay to take that life pause - get married, have some kids, and then go back to school. There shouldn't be an age gap. You know, you can be in your 40s and have a doctorate, and that's okay. Age is just a number, and you were able to keep going.

Everyone kind of just sees early childhood education as daycare, and that drives me crazy because it's high-quality education, it's early higher education. Just because we do have a lot of single moms or moms working doesn't mean anything. One of the things I'm really passionate about is that in our state, if you work in a high-quality center, you actually can go to school for free for your associates and your bachelor's. Right now we're almost 100% where all my teachers have gone back to school, because no one - one thing that I'm huge on is that my ladies, maybe they started out that way, but these are very professional women. Just because they were single moms doesn't mean anything - these are great ladies who can see the need and the quality of having that education. That's one thing that we're overcoming for sure, is trying to show that no, these are professionals, whether they're women or not. We do have males, but it's a very low number of males, which is sad - we do need those in early childhood education. But I know for a lot of these women, especially higher-ups at the capital level, they just don't see it as professional. I'm like no, these are professionals.

I think family, having a family atmosphere. I'm always telling that to my teachers - if you don't feel like a family, I guess it's your job, but we're still a family. We're providing services to others, to families, so you should feel like you belong. Definitely having that feeling of being a family and being a partnership - we all have to work together, we have to be a team. And then personally, of course, my religion is a big deal with my family. My kids do go to private Christian school, so having that Christian atmosphere is important. And the Licensed Child Care Association, the nonprofit, we are also a Christian organization, but we don't push it on people. So if you're not of faith, that's okay, we're still going to support you, but we want to have that atmosphere where you feel safe, your family's safe, and you're supporting each other - a supportive community.