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Blog
It’s No Small Matter: Appreciating AWARD$ Plus with Melissa Cleary
Melissa Cleary loves her job, and she has worked hard to be her best at it. As an in-home educator serving Alexander Early Head Start, she goes into the homes of families in her caseload and works on developmental goals for children. She has had a 25-year career and believes it brought her to where she is now. Melissa said, “We serve pregnancy up to age 3, and I love working with this age group. We make sure goals are on track and work with the family to find out their goals and what they want their children to learn. We are supporting families and meeting them where their strengths are; every family is unique.”
She’s always known she wanted to work with children and started in early childhood after she graduated from high school. She obtained her Early Childhood Credential right away and started as an assistant. “After a few years, I got a little burned out. I took a break to focus on office work and realized quickly that working with children was where I needed to be,” she said. She returned to the field and began work on her Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education. “I worked full-time and was in school part-time. It took me five years, but I did it. That’s what matters. The TEACH Early Childhood® Scholarship Program is one of the main reasons I got my AAS ECE. It’s an amazing, wonderful program.”
Melissa is always learning and seeking ways to grow, and this passion motivated her to get her bachelor’s degree. She graduated in May 2025. “I never wanted to stop learning,” Melissa said.
“I’m going to be 45 and I graduated with my bachelor’s. I believe in continuing to grow because the field is ever-changing. I wanted to increase my knowledge to better benefit the children and families I serve. I do a lot more self-reflection now. I’m more aware of the individual needs of children and their families. It was also a way to better myself and my family. I’m the sole breadwinner in my family.”
Melissa didn’t stop there. She teaches parenting classes, does presentations at key early childhood conferences, she is a Registered Circle of Security Parenting and Classroom Facilitator and holds her Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement. “I set goals for myself, and I’m blessed to have these opportunities,” she said. “I’ve had the frame for my degree two or three months, but it took 12 weeks for them to send it, and it said, ‘Magna Cum Laude.’ It’s hanging in my office. To be able to put BS by my name, wow. My endorsement was a two-year process, but I now have more letters after my name. I want to use the knowledge I’ve been blessed with to help others. I want to take it and share it.”
Soon she will be on to her master’s degree. Melissa said, “TEACH will be the only way I’m able to get my master’s. I plan to go to UNC-Greensboro in the spring. I’m so grateful for this support. People just don’t know how great these programs all are. TEACH, AWARD$ Plus, WAGE$ — all of them. Hands up to them and the doors that they open.”
Melissa is driven to learn, but she was also motivated by the AWARD$ Plus supplements. She said:
“To be able to go up in my AWARD$ Plus supplement, that’s pretty great as well. If it wasn’t for AWARD$ Plus, house payments wouldn’t have been made. When you are struggling financially and you are waiting and you know you’ve got that supplement coming, it helps, it really does. It’s a blessing. I’m grateful every time it hits my account. It has always been put to good use, but mostly it has helped us catch up on bills. In a beautiful, wonderful world, we would all be paid what we deserve, but I appreciate this supplement so much.”
Melissa continued, “People need to know what a wonderful program AWARD$ Plus is. If we can keep this going, we need to. It helps tremendously. Just knowing that there are organizations out there working for us really means a lot. Because I understand budgeting for a business, I know it’s hard to pay child care staff what they deserve when parents cannot pay more. Whatever we can do to motivate people and keep them going is essential. DCDEE is awesome. I just want them to know how important this program is, how important it is to keep supplements available. People should watch the documentary ”No Small Matter.” It will help them understand. One thing affects another. It really is no small matter. We need quality, not just a body, in early childhood.”
