I once attended an all day training for Directors of childcare centers within our community and I heard someone say that they hadn’t figured out how to combine their professional mission with their personal mission and that they were looking forward to figuring out how to do that.That stuck with me! I hadn’t even thought about that before and now it was on repeat in my head.
During the year of 2022, I joined the Provider Leader Fellowship with Kids Win Missouri, and I wasn’t quite sure what I had signed up for but I knew that if I had a chance to grow my knowledge of how to help children, then I needed to explore this opportunity.
During the course of the year, I continued on as a Director of a child care center in Northwest Missouri (St. Joseph) while working as a provider leader to advocate for children at the state level. It wasn’t until September of 2022, when we went and spoke to legislators at the Capitol, that I realized that this is something that I have been missing my entire life. Something that I didn’t even know was growing inside of me at a rate of speed that was terrifying, and I quickly realized that I needed to do more than what I was already doing.
In March of 2023, an opportunity with Kids Win came about and I applied for the role of Advocacy Fellow. Once again I didn’t know what I was signing up for but I knew that working alongside this organization for the past year had been so fulfilling that I could not pass on an opportunity to work with them full time if it were meant to be. I remember filling out the application and sending in my resume and thinking to myself, this is it! This is how my professional and my personal mission will combine.This will be my sweet spot in life. I had worked in the early childhood field since 1999 and I had become more comfortable speaking to children than I did speaking with adults but this would give me the opportunity to expand my knowledge and my expertise while fulfilling something within myself I didn’t even know existed up until this past year.
I grew up in a large city – Atlanta, GA – and saw a side of early childhood while teaching there that I thought was the norm until I moved to Missouri. Teaching in a more rural area, I quickly discovered that there is a crisis among us. Children are not granted the same opportunity for quality care and education as other children in our country.
When I was selected for this position it felt like I had finally come home. This was no longer “work,” this was a passion. I knew that I was embarking on something that was going to take a lot of learning, training and skill, but I also knew that it was exactly where I was supposed to be. I am still more comfortable talking to children than I am adults (LOL), but I now see how impactful our adult voices can be in advocating for our children and their needs.
I look forward to working with you and learning with you as I dive into this new role. I also want to meet you! As I am getting to know our partners and stakeholders, please feel free to reach out, shoot me a message, and/or set up a time to meet! You can reach me at mmurray@kidswinmissouri.org. I hope to talk to you soon!
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About Megan Murray
Megan Murray serves as an Advocacy Fellow for Kids Win Missouri. Prior to her current role, Megan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to Saint Joseph, MO in 2017. After graduating high school in the late 90s, Megan went into the field of early childhood education as a preschool teacher and quickly found out that her passion was caring for children and their families. She continued her career in ECE until 2023, with her most recent role of Director at a child care center in St. Joe. Megan has worked with school districts and the United Way as well as being heavily involved in her community. Megan joined the Kids Win team in April of 2023 after completing a year as a Provider Leader Fellow with KWM. She found that working on the state level on ECE issues is her sweet spot and looks forward to helping all children in Missouri.
Congratulations Megan!