Meet Emily Franceschi, who works as lead infant teacher at NurturEd Early Learning Center, caring for children ages six weeks to 18 months old.
Ms. Emily, from Blackstone, Mass., has been here for six years, working at the Cumberland location.
“I love it so much,” she says. “It’s such a rewarding job.”
Seeing children’s faces light up when they come in at drop-off time and see her is the highlight of her day, she said, as is developing deeper connections with children and their families.
“It really is such a family here; it just feels like a tight-knit community,” Ms. Emily says.
Ms. Emily understands the meaning of family as well as anyone, coming from a close Italian one and living in the same four-family home with her parents and grandparents.
In addition to hanging out with her high school sweetheart fiancé (the BMR graduates have been together for 10 years), Ms. Emily enjoys spending time with friends, caring for her cats, and relaxing by coloring in coloring books. She’s also a huge fan of The Vampire Diaries.
Ms. Emily used to dance at Dance Theatre of Rhode Island, and has known NurturEd’s Tiffany Tinkham and her son, Damien, since they were both young.
On her favorite time of day, Ms. Emily laughs as she says that depending on the day, it’s usually nap time, but she also loves watching the children in her care learn and grow through each milestone.
Children even at this age can be pretty chatty, even if there aren’t a lot of words in the mix, said Ms. Emily, and she enjoys engaging with each of them.
NurtureEd does so many great things for its employees, said Ms. Emily, including help with schooling for early education. She received her associates degree in early education from CCRI, and she would eventually like to go back to school for pediatric speech therapy or occupational therapy.
“I will definitely always work with kids, because that’s what I love to do,” she said, adding that she would also like to have her own children.