2022 Webinar Series: Farm to Early Care and Education

About our presenters:

Mrs. Nino’s Garden at El Campito

Presented By: Andrea Crawford and Aleyna Mitchelle

Aleyna Mitchell is the Director of Development and Community Outreach at South Bend's El Campito Child Development Center, the only licensed, Paths to Quality Level 4, NAEYC-accredited, bilingual child development center in Northern Indiana. A graduate of Ball State University, she holds degrees in Child Development and Spanish. She began as an intern at El Campito in 2015, where she has served in various capacities ever since.

Andrea Crawford is a co-founder of Mrs. Niño’s Garden, a joint project of El Campito and South Bend's Near Westside Neighborhood Organization. She grew up on a farm in New Harmony, Ind., earned bachelor and master degrees at IU Bloomington, and spent almost two decades as a writer and magazine editor in New York City, before moving to South Bend. She is a graduate of Farm School NYC, a two-year training program in sustainable urban agriculture and social, economic, and racial justice.

Wayne Township Preschool

Presented By: Allison Kempers

My name is Allison Kempers. This is my 16th year living the dream as preschool educator. I am the curriculum coach and the learning lab teacher at the Wayne Township Preschool, MSD Wayne Township, Indianapolis, IN.  I have a BS in Early Childhood Education/Special Education and a minor in dance from Iowa State University of Science and Technology and MS in educational administration (EPPSP) program at Butler University. My lifelong talent and passion is baton twirling, where I have traveled around the world teaching and performing as a competitive baton twirler and coach. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my two children doing as much science as we can and taking care of the Kempers zoo.

I believe that all children deserve equitable opportunities to experience nature, STEM and our natural world. I enjoy sharing opportunities and sparking joy for STEM, especially for children to experience geodes and other rocks & minerals, creek walks, insects, engineering, agriculture, and learning about our wonderful planet. In addition to providing opportunities for children to have hands-on opportunities to explore, it is my mission to ensure that all children are represented in science and ensure that our curriculum is culturally responsive and equitable to all.

St. Vincent Early Learning Center

Presented By: Krista Wedding

Krista Wedding earned both her undergrad degree and MBA from the University of Evansville. Additionally, she holds certifications in Nonprofit Leadership from Indiana University, in Human Resources Management from HRCI, and is attaining status as an Executive Scholar from Northwestern University. Her extensive specialization in non-profit operations for the last 23 years has given her the opportunity to impact contract administration at the state level, work with national experts on social finance structures, complete ground-breaking movement in early educator compensation parity, and utilize cost allocation methods to track the actual, real-time cost of quality in early education. After serving as the Director of Business Operations for over five years, Krista has been recently appointed as the President/Executive Director for St. Vincent Early Learning Center. Previously, she was the Vice President, Director of Operations for 4C of Southern Indiana. Krista is also a past member of the Board of Directors for Holly’s House, remains an elected member of the NAEYC Finance and Investments Committee, and serves on the committee for Resilience Evansville.