As a first-year KRESA Head Start employee, I, naturally, am still learning the ropes. For the past few weeks on Monday morning, Nateshia Carson and Wanda Hurt (Head Start) have gone outside their typical morning responsibilities to help me get my 'Preschool Times' newsletter printed in gorgeous glossy color when I've had technical issues with my laptop/printer communication. This simple gesture reinforced how incredible and wonderful of a team I work with. Their smiles and humor on those Monday mornings were just awesome. Thanks, ladies — I appreciate you!

On 11/1/2019 KRESA had an Early Childhood and Special Education Hiring Event. Chris Dao (SW MiTech) took my phone call confirming that we would have a 42" TV screen and laptops at WoodsEdge for the event. Chris brought down all the technology before the event, set it up, made sure we did not need any further assistance in the morning and came back at the end of the event and packed it all up and took it back to the Service Center. I cannot express enough appreciation for his collaboration in this matter. All technology worked during the event and HR and Administrators were able to focus on recruiting. Thank you Chris!

A huge thank you to Chris Heath! I had two staff out for the day and Chris volunteered to adjust his schedule and help my class for the entire day! So grateful for him and the way that he helped save the day! Thank you, Chris!

I am so blessed to have been "shown the ropes" of my new classroom assignment by Alexis Archer. Her willingness to share her experience working with our student population has really made my transition into a new classroom a smooth experience. She has consistently challenged and encouraged me to grow my own toolbox and familiarity with this new student population.

Despite a large class size and many student behaviors Alexis has remained calm and professional at all times. Her excitement and passion for working with ASD is truly inspiring.

Alexis, thanks for helping me make this transition to working with a new student population so smooth and I appreciate your Collaborative mindset.

YOU is a old building and we often have heating and cooling issues.The parts needed to keep us warm or cool depending on the season can be challenging since parts are expensive and possibly a challenge to find. Gary Wheeler (Maintenance) always comes in with a positive attitude and tries hard to fix the issue to keep all the staff and the youth we serve happy. On a day we had bad weather and we didn't have to be here until 9:30 AM Gary was here by 9 fixing our heat issue. Gary, on behalf of us at YOU we appreciate you! Thanks for all you do!!

#Togetherisbetter - Is the theme for the 2018-19 Program year for Head Start programming via KRESA. I want you all to know that I appreciate, acknowledge, and know that our team (Susie Shaw, Amber Pankey, Ashley Moorehead, Chris Clement, Dominique Wilder, Lisa Smith and Kyle Fall — Head Start), is doing all of the above i.e. Collaboration, Innovation, Compassion, Trustworthy, and always with Respect serving the families who are within our program. I just simply want to KUDOs all of you/I see you and thank you so very much.

Katy Clark (Instructional Services) has been a vital role in establishing the Kalamazoo RESA Book Gardens in Kalamazoo County. The county currently has 12 Book Gardens that function to provide free books to youth. KRESA Book Gardens have been successful in supporting the states literacy initiative, promoting community engagement, and filling the book desert of Kalamazoo County. Katy works incredibly hard to rally book donations, locate and connect with community members to establish Book Gardens, and restock shelves of growing Book Gardens. She is amazing.

Recently a district suffered a campus wide internet outage due to a rodent chewing up the fiber optic cables in a network closet. The network team immediately responded, identified the problem and started the standard procedure getting a fiber repair contractor scheduled. Well, we now have a team member that has years of experience/expertise in fiber optic installation and repair in the Air Force. Given the specifics of this situation Shawn Buelow (SWMiTech) recognized that MiTech could save time and money by purchasing the equipment and materials needed to do the repair ourselves. He was able to get pricing, approval, have the order overnighted, successfully repair and restore service, and train another team member how to do the repair faster and cheaper than it would have been to have a contractor do it. This is a real game changer for the network team in terms of fiber infrastructure capabilities, outage restoration timeliness, and cost savings. Shawn Buelow exemplified our department values by finding a better way, leading the way, taking us there, and working together.
Great work Shawn Buelow!

On Tuesday, November 14th, the D/HH program at Angling Road Elementary school held a Family Night for our D/HH students and their families. Kara Mounce, Nancy Gallihugh, Xenia McKay, Janelle King and Angela Wells (WELC Offsite – DH/H) were instrumental in the planning and execution of the events that took place. Kara held a parent and family orientation, while other's led games for the students and their siblings. One of our newest family members said, " I love it here. It feels like a family here!" That's exactly how we live at Angling Road. We're more than a team. We are a family, and want to make certain all of our students and their family members feel included and safe here with us.