Krongkan “Cherry” Bovornkeeratiroj

“In Amherst, I had the chance to volunteer with young children, and that changed my life,” Krongkan “Cherry” Bovornkeeratiroj, an intern at Strategies for Children (SFC), told us in a recent interview. 

This story started six years ago when Cherry moved from Thailand, where she worked as a financial auditor, to Amherst, Mass., where her husband is a graduate student — and where she volunteered to work in a preschool program. 

Cherry was used to the more formal educational approach that she had experienced in Thailand. Amherst was different.

“Our school system focuses heavily on academics and rarely teaches us to speak for ourselves. Most of the time we listen and listen.”

“The first day I walked into the classroom in Amherst, I saw kids enjoying activities. There were no chairs in rows.”

It was a high-quality program where children’s feedback was valued. For example, in the case of one child bumping into another, teachers would ask what the harmed child needed: a hug, an apology, an ice pack? 

 “Instead of lecturing, teachers asked students questions and encouraged them to think critically,” Cherry says.

This volunteer experience prompted her to apply to graduate school.

“But when I was admitted, I found out I was pregnant.” And the pandemic hit. So Cherry waited for a couple of years, then she enrolled in the Master of Arts (MA) in Leadership, Policy & Advocacy for Early Childhood Well-Being program at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

“Once I shared my passions with my academic advisor, she told me to talk to Amy,” Cherry says of Amy O’Leary, Strategies for Children’s executive director.

“I talked to Amy on the phone, and I thought, Wow, she has such a good energy!”

Cherry enrolled in O’Leary’s Field Experiences class and started working as an intern at Strategies. And as it turns out, her work doing financial auditing in Thailand helps her think about early education in the United States.

“They are both about studying systems. To change something or to make an impact, we need to study the system.”

As an intern, one of Cherry’s projects is conducting a landscape analysis of early education and care’s financial models.

“This was not a project that I really wanted to do,” Cherry admits. Her passion is building awareness about healthy interactions among young children, families, and educators. “But financial analysis is a need in the field, and so many people told me that they need someone who knows about numbers.”

So far, Cherry has spoken to the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley about their Shared Services MA program, “an innovative approach to equip early childhood educators with the tools and resources they need to strengthen business practices and enhance program quality.”

Cherry is also analyzing the financial statements and financial tools of some early childhood programs to understand their fiscal realities and challenges.

“I’m going to study both success stories and stories of struggles. We cannot study only successes and say, Well, let’s, let’s move in this direction, without caring about those who are struggling. And we also cannot only focus on those who are struggling because we need to study what helps some providers thrive.” Her goal is to provide insights to the field and policy recommendations to local government officials. 

In the spring, Cherry hopes to design another project that will look at ways to support early educators.

“Early educators and teachers work long hours, and they work so hard because working with young children is not easy, and sometimes it’s exhausting. That’s why there should be a system to support educators and give them credit for what they do.”

Along the way, Cherry has also learned inspiring lessons. 

In her workplace in Thailand, she says, making mistakes can be seen as a failure.

“Amy told me, No Cherry, you have to unlearn this. I still have that part in me that wants to do things perfectly. But through working with people who care about people and who care about young children, I now see the beauty of imperfection. We will never be perfect. Accepting imperfection in others and in ourselves allows change to happen.”

Cherry hopes to stay in the United States and work for this kind of change to happen here and then return to Thailand and work with early childhood advocates there.

Another key lesson she has learned that should help:

“I don’t have to do this work alone.”

“In order to raise awareness, we need to work with other people. The more we share, the more power we have to make change and grow and add to our knowledge and practices and experiences.”

“I also want to say, thank you very much to the SFC team for all the lessons learned and the incredible support I have experienced through every project, meeting, and conversation. Thank you for moving me from a lonely perfectionist mindset to a warm, powerful, collaborative world.”