NAEYC 2022 Conference & Expo

This November 14-19, Marketing Manager Tiffany Young Yannelli and Senior Associate Arnelle Grundhoefer joined about 6,000 attendees in Washington, D.C. at the annual National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Conference & Expo.

Kicking off the event was Keynote Speaker Minh Lê, author of award-winning picture books such as Lift, Drawn Together, and Let Me Finish! Minh serves on the Board of We Need Diverse Books and is on the faculty of the Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. He has written a graphic novel for the middle years as well as articles for a variety distinguished news media.

The Open General Session featured a Q&A with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, co-founder of the legendary Grammy-nominated rap group RUN DMC. In addition to being an author, Darryl is co-founder of the award-winning non-profit Felix Organization, which works to “enrich the lives of children in the foster care system.” He is also an investor and mental health advocate for Uwill, established to support the mental health and wellness needs of colleges and students.

Each day was filled with choices of one-and-a-half to two-hour sessions covering topics from A to T–that is from Advocacy/ Public Policy to Technology & Digital Media. Some titles from the Conference program: Play-Based Instruction in Kindergarten Classrooms, Addressing Pressing Contemporary Issues of Equity and Diversity in Early Childhood, Composing a Profession: Reflections on Four Decades of ECE History to Inform its Future, Systematically Supporting Quality Programs Through the Creation of Outdoor Classrooms, and D-A-P in the H-O-O-D: How Developmentally Appropriate Practice Can Transform Instruction in Urban Pre-K Classrooms.

In the afternoon of the final day, the organization hosted a Closing Party celebrating the one-year anniversary of the fourth edition of the organization’s publication Developmentally Appropriate Practice. Attendees unwound to live music performed by The Exclusives.

Many interested teachers stopped by the Search Associates booth for conversations with Arnelle and Tiffany about the overseas teaching experience. Tiffany said,

It was amazing to be back (after 3 years) in person post-pandemic and to connect with many aspiring and current educators. We had many meaningful conversations with past and prospective candidates who were excited about the opportunity to teach abroad!