“If your car is broken you don’t bring it to a landscaper. You want someone who knows what they are doing. You want those teaching your children to have the knowledge to give children the best start you can,” Cheryl Hovey said.

Hovey has dedicated her life to making sure caretakers and teachers of young children are equipped with what they need to give infants and toddlers that chance, through teaching as an adjunct professor at several colleges as well as acting as a professional development consultant for early childhood education.

For all of her efforts, Exchange Press Inc. has recognized Hovey with a 2015 Emerging Leader Award and showcased her in this month’s edition of the magazine.

Exchange is a bimonthly magazine that focuses on early childhood, spreading ideas, advice and programs for professionals in the field.

Hovey said winning hasn’t “sunk in yet,” but the award has been humbling and served as validation for all the work she does.

Hovey started at Bridgewater State studying Elementary Education but quickly found that she wasn’t as interested as she had first thought. While working she found herself working in an “infant room” at a childcare facility.

“I was put into the infant room at my job, because no one chooses to go in that room, but I fell in love with it,” Hovey said.

She quickly found in her work that there was always a need for more training, but she found that the majority of sessions focused on children in preschool or older.

She said, “I just knew there had to be more out there.”

Hovey then attended Wheelock College in a dual undergrad and graduate course receiving her Bachelor of Science in Human Development and minor in Child & Family Services in 2006, and only a year later earning her Master’s in Science in Birth to Three: Development and Intervention as an Infant and Toddler Specialist.

Currently, Hovey is an adjunct professor at both Fisher College and Cambridge College, teaching for the respective Early Childhood Programs, a field supervisor at Curry College, professional development specialist for the Council of Professional Recognition, certified Train-the-Trainer for Better Brains for Babies Initiative and the founder and president of Ez Ed 2 Go.

Her organization, Ez Ed 2 Go, is a consulting service where Hovey designs and gives her he own training sessions for early education. She said the first time she ever held her own training 65 people showed up.

“It was such a rush I was running off adrenaline all day. I found my knack,” she said.

She said there is always room for more training especially for those working with the youngest population.

“Parents have always wanted and will always want what’s best for their kids and knowing how the brain develops can help them be the best. I will always be a voice for babies,” Hovey said.

She explained that infants are “pre-wired,” but to make sure those “wires” make the right connections in infancy, children must go through critical experiences. She uses the example of an infant, around eight to nine months, consistently dropping things waiting for parents to pick them up.

“That’s not a game,” she said. “They are learning object permanence. The teachers, whether parent of otherwise, in an infants first three years of life lay the foundation for everything else a child will ever learn and know.”

This is why early education is so important and why Hovey has dedicated herself to teaching and training people to be the best teachers for children in the first few years of life.

Hovey knows she could get a job at an early education center and used to wonder whether she should have stuck with a normal 9 to 5 job, but said, “I wouldn’t change anything. I love what I do and this is where I need to be.”

By teaching and training others, Hovey feels she can have a greater impact on the early education community.

“I have been very fortunate to meet very supportive and great people along the way,” Hovey said. “There were people who saw things in me that I didn’t see myself.”

Now, Hovey said she wants to do the same.

“I want to learn as much as possible to continue giving back,” she said.

For more information on Hovey’s organization, visit www.ezed2go.com. To read the Exchange article and learn more about the magazine, visit www.childcareexchange.com.