Michele Grant wins MCCA's Children's Service Recognition Award
The Louis Riel School Division would like to congratulate Michele Grant on being selected to receive the Manitoba Child Care Association’s Children’s Service Recognition Award.
This award recognizes outstanding achievements which have enhanced the development and growth of quality childcare services as a service or profession.
“It has been an honour to work alongside Michele during various times in our careers, and I am more than happy to celebrate all that Michele has achieved in our sector,” said April Kalyniuk, a member of the Manitoba Child Care Association (MCCA) provincial board of directors and Executive Director of Lord Roberts Children's Programs. “Her commitment and passion to ensuring the best for families and children is unequalled, and her life work has been to ensure that the early childhood educators (ECEs) and childcare assistants (CAs) in the field are well prepared to do this work well prepared and enthusiastically.”
Michele has been involved in the early learning and childcare community for more than 40 years. She has worked as a front-line ECE, an executive director of early years programs, and as a college instructor. The last 14 years she has been teaching the ECE program at the Louis Riel Arts & Technology Centre.
Michele was a founding member and Chairperson of the Thompson Regional Branch of MCCA and is a past President and Provincial Board member of the association. As president, she led the association to amalgamate with the Family Child Care Association (FCCA), creating the largest childcare organization in Canada. Michele has also represented MCCA as the provincial member affiliate for the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) and is a former Board member of CCCF. While volunteering with MCCA, Michele was a founding member of the MCCA ethics committee and has been Chairperson. As part of the ethics committee, she helped to create and deliver a four-part series to educate members about the MCCA’s Code of Ethics and a process to help staff engage in ethical decision-making in early years programs. During that time, she introduced the workshop series to the CCCF member council, which led to delivering train-the-trainer opportunities in Manitoba and across Canada. Michele remains a committee member and guides MCCA community members on their ethical journey.
As a member of the MCCA, Michele continues to contribute articles to Bridges, the quarterly journal, and is a highly sought-after professional development workshop facilitator for the early years' community across the province.
In 2021, Michele was appointed to the Technology Education Senior Years Early Childhood Education (ECE) Curriculum Development team. In February 2022, LRSD and the Government of Manitoba entered an interchange agreement that sent Michele to the Learning and Outcomes branch to develop a Provincial cluster of courses for the ECE-TVE program. This term was extended as she continued as a Curriculum Consultant before returning to her teaching position at the Louis Riel Arts & Technology Centre.
“It is an incredible honour to be recognized by my peers,” said Michele. “Children and families deserve high-quality education and care, and that requires early childhood educators and childcare assistants who are trained and committed to learning. I am humbled and inspired to continue being part of a community dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children and educators.”
Michele was honoured at a banquet on May 24, 2024. Congratulations Michele!
