By Daniel Wilson

February 21, 2025

Sacramento State’s College of Education has awarded $1 million in scholarships to 93 students in early childhood education, with the goal of helping them graduate with little to no student loan debt.

The funds are part of the Innovation Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Education (ICEECE), which aims to enhance pre-K through third grade programming and alignment by providing targeted professional development and robust pipelines into ECE careers.

“Making sure the folks that are teaching our youngest learners are well supported during their preparation, and then once they enter into the job market, that's a really critically important job for us to do here at Sac State,” said ICEECE Faculty Director Pia Wong.

The University honored the recipients, who are students in Child and Adolescent Development, teaching credential, and Educational Leadership programs, during an event on Feb. 14. Recipients’ families were invited to celebrate, and the students received pins to signify their accomplishment.

“Being an early childhood educator is one of the most important and impactful jobs that anyone can do,” Sac State President Luke Wood told students. “It’s the most important because it's the foundation. We hope that being part of this community and knowing that we all support you wholeheartedly is something that will help you to stay focused and positive.”

Recipients were chosen from a pool of 180 applicants and range from first-year to graduate students. The diverse group includes seven master’s students, 75 undergraduates, 10 credential students and one doctoral student. Some are enrolled in a fully-online bachelor’s program through the College of Continuing Education and attended the event on Zoom.

“This money will be excellent for attracting new students to the program, which will help increase our enrollment. Students that didn't think they could afford to come to school or stay in school may now be attracted to our program or be encouraged to stay in our program.” -- Greg Shaw, College of Education interim dean

In June 2023, then-assemblymember and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty awarded $6.5 million to the University to establish the ICEECE, with a portion of the funds dedicated to scholarships. Recipients, who received an average of $10,000, will receive additional funds as they continue their programs.

McCarty, who holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from Sac State, has long advocated for education. He chaired the Assembly Education Finance Committee, which in recent years has secured more than $1 billion to support educator preparation.

“Unless we have enough qualified early educators on the frontlines or lead teachers, instructors, like many of you are going to be, it's all for naught,” he said.

McCarty worked with then-Sac State president Robert S. Nelsen to identify ways the University could help increase the number of early childhood educators in the region. Those conversations ultimately led to the funding that created the ICEECE.

“I hoped one day I'd come back and see all your beautiful faces and the impact that you're doing, so thank you all for doing what you do for our youngest learners,” McCarty said to the scholars at the event.

The funding will also pay for renovations of outdoor learning spaces at three Sacramento City Unified School District elementary schools and Sac State’s ASI Children’s Center. The spaces will act as professional learning environments for Sac State students, who will utilize best practices as they work with the young learners.

“Ultimately, we'll have this network of sites where educators can learn how to do engaging, hands-on, stimulating teaching for 3- to 8-year-olds,” Wong said.

For the children, the benefits are endless, said Deidre Sessoms, a professor of Undergraduate Studies in Education who worked with Wong to award the scholarships.

“The more adults you get in a space with kiddos, especially adults who are learning and understand what the best research-based approaches are for working with young children, of course the children benefit,” Sessoms said.

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Having those sites available for students has been a primary goal of the ICEECE, which is working to fulfill a need for well-prepared ECE teachers in support of California’s master plan to provide better early childhood learning opportunities. As part of that effort, the state established universal access to transitional kindergarten for children who turn five beyond the kindergarten registration deadline.

“By making this available to our scholars, we can sort of get them seeing the professional trajectory for themselves, so that this just becomes a part of their professional identity,” Sessoms said.

While the majority of the scholarship recipients are undergraduate and master’s students, one of the recipients, Silvia Figueroa, is working on her doctoral degree through Sac State’s Doctorate in Educational Leadership program. Figueroa’s research, which she will present at several upcoming conferences, looks at how to improve professional development for preschool educators, from the perspective of 11 teachers of color.

“I think my study has not been done before, and I think that it’s a great idea to analyze this group of people because they contribute so much,” Figueora said. “Overall, the scholarship will help me to elevate those voices.”

Veneta Tuleshkova, who teaches infants and toddlers at General Davie Jr. Primary Center, an elementary school in the San Juan Unified School District, is a member of the Bachelor of Arts in Child and Adolescent Development cohort program and said she is thankful for the help paying for college.

“It’s a very big deal for us because we can take a break a little bit,” Tuleshkova said. “As you know we are not paid very good as teachers, so it’s really hard for us. To have a good foundation (for the young learners), we have to have qualified teachers.”

Greg Shaw, interim dean of the College of Education, said scholarships like these can also encourage new students to attend the University.

“This money will be excellent for attracting new students to the program, which will help increase our enrollment,” he said. “Students that didn't think they could afford to come to school or stay in school may now be attracted to our program or be encouraged to stay in our program.”

Wong said the majority of the ICEECE scholars are already working in the field and the program serves as a support and improvement system for them. For those working in unrelated fields, Wong added that the college is helping them transition to related positions as they pursue their degrees.

“We just think (it will) lead to students staying at Sac State and continuing their education, and then feeling very excited about their professional choice,” she said.