Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Byrne.
Hi Nate, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
When I was a college senior at Montana-State Bozeman, I was working with families on the home side of care for students with special needs. At school they had IEPs and 504s to help meet academic and social goals and families worked with our agency to draft similar plans for home. How can we have dinner without a tantrum? How can we get out of the house in under an hour? How can we improve communication? In that role, I saw the impact high quality teachers had for students and decided to come back to MN to get my teaching degree. I taught kindergarten in Waconia for 9 years. In that position, I saw the impact high quality early education had on kindergarten readiness and I knew where I wanted my own kids to go. It wasn’t until we had kids that I learned how long the waitlists were for quality care. I looked into starting my own center but the financial risks are high and the barriers to entry are large. A friend of mine up here in Duluth recommended me to the board for a Director position here at Summit and I have loved the opportunity to help lead this team for the last two and a half years.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest struggle in all of my roles has been that the kids with the most needs often have the least access to the resources. As a home support provider, we were making plans for rural families who had to drive an hour each way for their 30 minute OT appointments. They didn’t qualify for travel assistance and couldn’t afford a longer appointment. As a kindergarten teacher, I had some kids enter reading simple sentences and others enter not knowing the difference between a letter and a number. As a director of an early childhood education center, I see our tuition rival mortgage payments for families. Universal access to high quality early education can be a rising tide that lift all boats. It can support kids being ready for kindergarten. It can reduce the need for special education support. It can support families in the workforce. Providing a quality option for families is expensive and deserves public investments.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We specialize in providing a balance between academic skills and social/emotional skills. The ability to work in a group, to sit for circle time, to resolve disputes with a friend, etc. are all just as important to success in kindergarten (and in life!) as recognizing letters and numbers. Often, you see programs lean one way or the other. Summit students leave our program with a balance of those skills that gives them a head start on the rest of their lives. We also advocate for community support and legislative support. I also bring some community organizing and public speaking skills to this position.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Perseverance. Day by day it can be hard to see the progress we are making, but looking at year by year we can see the progress. Keeping the long term vision in mind when facing the day to day struggles can be hard, but it is important to remember how the decisions we are making today impact the plans we have for tomorrow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.summitschoolduluth.com/
