In my role as a program facilitator of the Art of Medical Interpretation, Advanced Note-Taking, and Interpreting in Mental Health classes, guiding our students through this process journey has been a privilege. I had the pleasure of personally meeting all of them when distributing the course materials, which allowed us to establish a connection from the start. One of the highlights was our study night, which included a wonderful dinner. This event provided an opportunity for in-depth learning and fostered a sense of community and friendship among them. The informal setting encouraged open discussions and strengthened the bonds between students and me.

To maintain continuous communication, we set up a WhatsApp group. This platform enabled us to stay connected daily, share important updates, and support each other throughout the program. The group was vital for fostering a collaborative learning environment and ensuring everyone felt engaged and supported. Additionally, we organized a Zoom class focused on post-course opportunities, providing valuable insights into potential career paths and further education. This session was designed to help students confidently navigate their next steps, armed with the skills and knowledge they acquired during the program. The combination of specialized training, community-building activities, and continuous support has prepared our participants to excel in their future endeavors, particularly as medical health interpreters, mental health interpreters, and specialists in note-taking.

We are pleased to report on the progress and achievements of our ACE MV Early Childhood Education Cohort, which began in September 2022 with 10 members and has grown to include more than 25 currently active students taking courses and working towards differing individual goals. We have also helped build and develop a thriving Early Childhood Education Community network linking our emerging new ECE teachers and other support personal with ECE professionals within our Island Community. One of the most rewarding aspects of our ECE Cohort is the rich diversity of our students in terms of ages/stages, backgrounds, experiences, interests, needs, and goals. That helps make the program an enriching learning experience for all of us.
This exciting and successful collaborative project has involved working together with ACE MV, a grant from West Chop Foundation, MV Community Services Early Childhood Programs, and Cape Cod Community College to help grow and develop our needed workforce to help educate and support our children and families here on the Vineyard. We are very grateful for the many contributions of all our collaborative colleagues.

At the end of this school year and our second year of this project, we are very proud of all our ECE Cohort members, and want to highlight some important milestone accomplishments:

• Olivia MacPherson, graduating senior at MVRHS this year, earned her Cape Cod Community College (4Cs) ECE Certificate Preschool during the past three years. Olivia took Dual Enrollment courses, for a total of 24 credits and became an active member of our ACE MV ECE Cohort, while being very busy and successful with high school classes and groups such as the school newspaper and creating an archery club for interested schoolmates. Additionally, Olivia has completed all the requirements to become Licensed as an ECE teacher, except for reaching her 21st birthday! She proudly marched in the 4Cs Commencement on MAY 23, and she will receive her official college Certificate after her Graduation from MVRHS next week on JUNE 9. She’ll be continuing her education toward her goal of becoming an ECE teacher at Bridgewater State this fall! Congratulations to our very motivated, hard working, and accomplished Olivia!
• La-Moi James joined our Cohort in the fall of 2022, and has taken advantage of every course and opportunity to work toward her 4Cs Certificate Infant and Toddlers, which she completed this year and was proud to march in our 4Cs Commencement on MAY 23 to accept that Certificate in person. As we learned in getting to know La-Moi, as a member of our ECE Cohort, she is another motivated and hard working student, who began her journey in her birthplace, Jamaica, and came to the Vineyard after beginning medical studies in Ukraine. In addition to earning her ECE Certificate Infants and Toddlers these past two years, La-Moi is curently enrolling in health care courses and with the help and support of the ACE MV Healthcare Cohort, she will continue to pursue her goal to work toward being a pediatric doctor. We are proud of La-Moi, and her growth and development as a successful adult learner in our Vineyard community for now, and believe she may travel the globe to contribute to the lives of children and families.
• Claudia Wilson was working in the food service department at MVRHS when she began pursuing her interest in ECE by joining our Cohort and taking 4Cs ECE courses in the fall of 2022. Her successes as a student and strengths as an emerging ECE teacher were recognized by the MV Public Schools when she was hired this March as an ESP assistant in the Project Headway classroom at Oak Bluffs School. We also want to acknowledge and celebrate the special contributions of two of our ECE Cohort members who have helped to deliver two new babes to our Vineyard Community of children and families.
• Maria Hulka brought her baby boy, Oliver, into our world in April 2024, and Sabrina Scott brought her baby girl, Keziah Lovette, into the world on May 9, 2024. Both Maria and Sabrina are hoping to continue to work towards more ECE courses, as their time and energy allow, as new Moms! We welcome our new ECE learners!

Another ACE MV ECE initiative to meet the needs of our growing Vineyard ECE Cohort brought 16 students from our Brazillian Portuguese community this past October to take ECE courses with Urban College of Boston. Our ACE MV ECE facilitator for that Brazillian Portugues Cohort, Sayra Guimaraes, started out as a member of our ECE Cohort in September 2022, and is now continuing to pursue her AS Degree in Psychology from 4Cs, which she expects to complete in the fall semester 2024. Sayra plans to continue her education well beyond that goal.

On behalf of our collaborative ACE MV ECE team,

Heather Quinn, Director of ECE Programs at MV Community Services
Joanne Lambert, Family Child Care Network Coordinator, MVCS Family Center
Deb Maher, ACE MV ECE facilitator and MV Outreach Coordinator for Cape Cod Community College (4Cs)