When Ashley Niedert began her first year at Michigan State University, she had a passion to teach Kindergarten, but didn’t know about the MSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies; degree in child development. Fortunately, one of her friends from high school chose the major and recommended child development as a degree that fit the ages she was most passionate about teaching.
“I'm so thankful she did because otherwise I wouldn't have gotten my early childhood endorsement and been able to teach Kindergarten in many districts, which is where my passion lies. The reason I really liked doing child development rather than elementary education was that it specialized in the study of the whole child and focused on young children, rather than elementary education which focuses more on children aged 6-12,” Ashley said.
She hopes to help students understand their options with the teaching certification major in birth to kindergarten teaching that HDFS offers. In addition, the department now offers a 4+1 program where students can earn both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in as little as five years.
“The information I learned in my child development classes felt the most relevant to the ages I was interested in teaching,” she said.
She has been teaching for 13 years now and remembers how important her time at MSU was in figuring out her path.
“The reason I think child development was such an amazing program was because of all the time we spent in the child development lab,” she reminisced. “I spent time with children every semester during my college career, and really got a ton of experience working with younger children because of this. When I went into my student teaching after I graduated, I wasn't even nervous about it because I had already spent an entire semester student teaching in the lab!”
During her 13-year career, Ashley has moved grades and districts several times, going through seasons of joy and even questioning whether teaching was right for her.
“I was offered a kindergarten position in South Lyon Community Schools last year,” she said. “I had started to fall out of love with teaching again during my couple years at Van Buren, but last year was one of my most amazing years out of the last 13 and it truly renewed my love for teaching.”
Outside of teaching, Ashley loves to diamond paint, learn about the science of reading, and is celebrating 10 years of marriage with her husband and they have a two-year-old daughter, Adeline, who is incredibly smart. They love to travel and camp as a family, and they have two five-year-old huskies – a brother and a sister, and ten-year-old cat.
“Watching MSU football is one of my favorite pastimes outside of teaching -- I still love my Alma mater, GO GREEN!”
To learn more about HDFS's Birth to Kindergarten teaching major, visit https://hdfs.msu.edu/index.php/undergraduate.
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By Katie Rose Frey