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From Our President. Let’s Stay in Community. Let’s Re-Imagine. Let’s Stay on Mission: Reflections Over the Past Two Years as Your NAEYC Board President

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Tonia R. Durden

June 1, 2024, was day one for me as your NAEYC Board President. I remember this moment vividly, as I had just stepped off the plane in New Orleans for NAEYC’s Professional Learning Institute (PLI) with my favorite green dress, yellow fingernails, and green hair highlights. I was coming to NAEYC as your new leader and my authentic self. I was ready and eager to lead, engage, learn, and be in community with one of the most dedicated and talented groups of professionals and champions for young children. It was also during this conference that I announced how we were re-imagining PLI and encouraged us all to begin engaging in the forward thinking and innovation that will propel NAEYC into the next 100 years.

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Photograph: courtesy of the author
Copyright © 2026 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.

Topics: YC

Tonia R. Durden

Tonia R. Durden is president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

naeyc governing board president tonia durden