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Sorry, I'm late to the game! I have a logical excuse but I'm the kind of person who thinks excuses are useless... if you're late, you're late and that's that. It doesn't matter why.
On that note, my name's Alayna Smith and I graduated high school in 2009 from Fairfield, Montana. I moved to Dillon and went to Montana Western for 5 years before graduating with my bachelors in Elementary Education. I worked as a CNA until my husband graduated and he found work in Big Timber, MT. While he worked, I searched for a teaching job but instead found a job as a Pharmacy Tech at the local pharmacy. When I became a mom, 5 years ago, I stopped working to stay home with my son. We eventually got tired of the Big Timber wind and headed west and landed in Libby, MT. My son started attending the Head Start here and I fell in love with it. Now, I'm back in school, on the prowl for my Early Childhood Endorsement. I am currently halfway done with my first year as a lead teacher in a class of sixteen 3, 4, and 5 year olds. I have a 5 and 2 year old at home, so my word never ends and I love it!

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Hello! :) My name is Hailey Brauer, I just recently got around to changing my maiden name to my married name (from Buckley to Brauer), but I have not had a chance to change it anywhere yet. I have been married for almost two years and my husband and I are only 8 weeks away from welcoming our first little one into our world. We have two wonderful rescue dogs that love to adventure with us. Our favorite things to do usually take place outside; we love backpacking, camping, and playing in the hills.

I am born and raised in Bozeman, MT. I left for a few years and lived in Phoenix, AZ. I moved back to Bozeman to finish school. While attending MSU in Bozeman, I met my wonderful husband. We got married shortly after graduation and I moved to Forsyth, MT to be with him and enjoy the calm small town life.

I am going on my 8th year of teaching Pre-K. I taught Pre-K for 7 years and then took a year off to teach Kinder and First grade. This year I am teaching Pre-K through 1st grade. I teach in a rural school in Eastern Montana. I am a licensed K-8 educator, but I was asked to go back to school for my Early Ed license as well.

This year has definitely been the most challenging year of teaching yet! It has been a brand new adventure trying to teach 4year-olds through 8 year-olds. I am definitely looking forward to my small break to get to know our little girl, but I will miss my students as well.

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Hi everyone! My name is Devin and I am 27 years old living in Lakeside MT. I work in the Pre-K classroom at Discovery Developmental Center in Kalispell. I moved to Montana from Oregon in the summer of 2020, to be with my long distance boyfriend and start a life together (we went to high school together, and I have known him for over 10 years, we reconnected right before COVID). I started my Early Childhood Education journey in February of 2021. I played volleyball in college and graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology and Human Services in 2018.

Without Volleyball and with COVID putting a major pause on my life, I have been trying to find new interests and hobbies. I can't say I have been successful trying many new things, but getting my job at Discovery has showed me so much more of what Montana has to offer, and has sparked new interest I didn't know I had before (hints at my comments on my Cricut ladies!).

On a normal week I tend to find myself looking forward to the new Crime Junkie Podcast episodes, I have my couple of bad reality TV shows I like to keep up on, and I really enjoy an old school horror movie. I put a lot of myself into my job, and that is where I am the most focused at this point in my life. The way I balance is by relaxing, but I am hoping this year brings new adventures my way and new experiences that hopefully spark a new love for something!

Excited to get to know everyone this semester.

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Hey everyone, my name is Molly and I am currently in my 3rd year of school, although this is only my second semester through U of M Western. Right now, I'm working full-time at a coffee shop while juggling schoolwork. I also like to help out at my local school's after-school program as well as work with children through my church. I'm also willing to always lend a hand to any of my friends who need a babysitter! So through all that, I stay fairly active working with children which is great! In the future, I'm hoping to work with children full-time and maybe one day start my own daycare!
I spend most of my free time engaging in outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, traveling, and skiing during the winter. I also love to read books and spend time learning about subjects that interest me outside of school. Another one of my favorite activities is to spend time with my niece who is almost four and my nephew who is a year and a half. (I've included a photo of my niece and me.) Those two littles are definitely my favorite people to spend time with! Overall, I am excited about this class and to gain more knowledge and information about early childhood education!

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I live in Livingston MT. I am currently working at Headstart teaching for my 3rd year. I have always loved working with children and before coming to Headstart I owned my own daycare for 5 years. I am almost 43 and started college for the first time this fall. It has definitely been a learning experience for me, but I am slowly getting the hang of it. I am married and have 2 boys Kaden who is on the right in the picture and he is 15, and Ethan on the left who is 12. My husband and I have been married for 15 years, and he works at the Stillwater Mine. We have 3 guinea pigs, and hopefully soon a dog. I enjoy watching movies, cooking, baking and being outdoors. I love to hike and camp also. I was born and raised in Montana, but to be honest 43 years of the cold is getting to me! I am looking forward to this course and learning lots of new things that I can bring into my classroom.

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I have been in Education for over 20 years. This is my first year teaching Early Kindergarten in Twin Bridges. I worked as a Title I Aide here when I first moved to Montana. I left the school in 2001 and went to work for Early Head Start. I spent 11 years working with infants and toddlers. From there I went to work for Family Outreach for 2.5 years doing early intervention. During that time, I spent almost 3 years at home raising my son. After returning to work I took a Lead Teacher/Family Advocate position with Rocky Head Start. I was with them for 4 years. I am currently working on my P-3 endorsement to add to my Bachelors degree in Elementary Education.
I am married to a rancher (so I actually have another full time job) and we have a 7 year old son. He is in 2nd grade and its been great seeing him throughout the day. We enjoy floating the rivers in the summer and spending time together as a family. We live in Waterloo so the Jefferson River is practically out our back door. My husband is a team roper and our son is just getting started rodeoing with his pony. We love the lifestyle our ranch allows us.

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Hi there! I'm Nikki and I have been working in childcare off and on for 9 years. I am currently a preschool teacher in Great Falls, but going back to school to get my ECED/P-3 degree.

I am a military wife, originally from Michigan but stationed out in Great Falls Montana now. I am a mom of 2 beautiful children, 3 year old girl and 6 year old boy, and a goofy old dog. I am back working for the first time in 6 years (spent time as a stay at home mom) and boy is it an adjustment! Especially during a pandemic!

My hobbies include doing my nails, working on crafts with my cricut, reading, and spending time with my family playing board games.

I am a huge movie lover (especially action) and I LOVE music from the 80's-90's.

I cant wait to get to know you all! <3

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I live in Missoula, MT an work as a para in a special education preschool. I have been working in the preschool for the past 4 years and before that I have been a para in kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade classrooms. I absolutely love being a para but have decided to expand on my passion and pursue a P-3 teaching degree.

When I am not working I am spending my time with my friends exploring breweries or playing trivia and jackbox. I also enjoy reading (if I can stay awake!), mostly thrillers or historical fiction.

Humor is one of the most important things in life and I truly belive that laughter is the best medicine :)

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Hi everyone! My name is Keilei. I have always been interested in working with kids. This is my second time coming to Montana Western. I currently have my associates in Pre-Elementary Ed. I work in the child care department of HRDC where I am teaching classes to adults who are in child care programs. I absolutely love that I have the opportunity to do this. When I am not working or doing school work, I bowl on a bowling league. I have been bowling for a very long time (since I was 7). It has and always will be a passion of mine. When I'm not there, I am usually home with my zoo. I have a total of six animals; a dog named Piper, 2 cats named Molly and Cheeto, a ferret named BB, a leopard gecko and a snake. I guess you can say that I am an animal lover. I am big on family and am happy to be back in Billings where they all live. My partner and I have a wonderful relationship with both of our families and often spend lots of time with them. I am excited to start my education again and look forward to working with all of you!

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Hello everyone! My name is Heavin-Lea Pruitt and I am a post-bach student here at UM western. I currently work for Havres Head Start and Early Head Start as the Health Services Advocate. I have worked here for almost 5 years. The first 3 and a half years I worked in the classroom, when I decided to go back to school I stepped back and took an office position to be able to have more time to work on my schooling. I live a pretty fast paced life, I am currently working full time, going to school full time, helping my significant other with our kennel, and we have a one year old and two year old who never run out of energy. With that being said during the school year i get little time to relax. I am very lucky however to have the summers off to spend time with my boys and our family. We love to go camping and fishing during the summer. My kiddos are a big fan of water and the little town we live in has an outdoor swimming pools so on the days we aren't at the lake you can bet we will be at the pool. In the fall I like to go hunting with my significant other. He is a full time farmers so fall is pretty busy for the both of us with school and work starting back up but we always try to make time for hunting. Any how im very excited to be here with you all and I hope you all have a wonderful semester.

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Hi! I'm Emily,
I've been working in Early Childhood (owner/director) for a few years now and decided to go back to school and get my ECED degree. When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with my family (husband and almost 6 year old daughter). We enjoy being outside camping, skiing, hiking, but also enjoy watching movies (Disney+ is our go to) and reading as well. I don't have much time left over but when I do, I enjoy crafting and making shirts with my Cricut. I'm originally from Minnesota (still have my accent doncha know :)) and currently live in Kalispell. Looking forward to getting to know you as well!