Allison Pettit brings over 30 years of experience in early childhood education to Florence Crittenton’s Child Enrichment Center. As a Floating Teacher at the center, she ensures all children receive the cognitive, physical, communicative, and social-emotional supports they need to further their growth and development. Recognizing families are essential to early childhood success, Allison strives to build connections and maintain open discourse with each family. She utilizes her bachelor’s degree and early childhood trainings to implement daily developmentally appropriate best practices in the CEC. Allison enjoys creating a fun, engaging, stimulating environment for the children and shares the best part of early childhood development, as well as her day, centers around play.

Denice Wells is an Early Childhood Lead Teacher at the Florence Crittenton Child Enrichment Center (CEC). With over 23 years of experience in the early childhood profession, she is an expert in ensuring the CEC operates efficiently. From meeting the needs of children 0-2 to mentoring new staff members, Denice is known for her caring, responsible, and trustworthy personality. She continually seeks opportunities for growth in her field and has attended several trainings that address various areas of child development. Denice believes children are happiest when they feel safe and loved. She is passionate about providing an atmosphere where infants and toddlers can safely explore their environment. Denice is proud of the accomplishments the CEC has achieved, and she strives to ensure the center continues to experience success.

Micaela Wilfong is an Early Childhood Program Supervisor at Florence Crittenton Preschool. Micaela graduated from Montana State University-Bozeman in 2014 with a BS in Early Childhood Education. Since graduating, Micaela has taught preschool in various programs in Tennessee and Montana. She is a strong advocate for family services being a leading part of the preschool program. Micaela believes “when you start a child in preschool you don’t just enroll the child, you enroll the family”. Micaela is a firm believer that parents are their child’s first educators and that preschool is an extension of family driven learning.  She believes having parents as an active participant and advocate in their child’s education is essential. Micaela is excited to be a part of the Florence Crittenton team and to bring her education and experience to the classroom.

Sarah Mitchell is the Early Childhood Program Manager for Florence Crittenton Preschool and Child Enrichment Center. Originally from Georgia, Sarah brings over 12 years’ experience in the educational setting. While attending Valdosta State University, she received a BA in Psychology and M.Ed. in School Counseling. Sarah has developed a strong sense of devotion to supporting children’s development as a program manager of early prevention and intervention services. This experience has provided her with a deep appreciation for collaborating with educators, parents, and community partners to meet each child’s developmental needs. She believes early exposure to learning opportunities that are fun and engaging enhance children’s social-emotional, cognitive, communicative, and physical development.  She is committed to providing a safe and nurturing environment where children develop a love of learning and feel a sense of belonging.

Sydney Wilke is the Early Childhood Lead Teacher in the 2-4-year-old classroom at the Child Enrichment Center. With over a year of teaching early childhood education, she has become a strong advocate for guiding and supporting young children with their social-emotional development. For Sydney, “when children learn at an early age healthy ways to work through their emotions, they develop effective ways for approaching and solving problems later in life.” Recognizing the important role social-emotional development plays in early childhood, she continues to seek opportunities to enhance her knowledge and skill set in this area from attending trainings to working in a team to develop strategies to support children experiencing struggles with behavior. Sydney values the Child Enrichment Center program’s focus on building children’s self-help, independence, and coping skills. Her favorite part of the day is seeing children smile and watching their interactions with others!