Following in Her Footsteps: Carroll Alum Carries Forward a Family Legacy in Early Childhood Education

For Carroll graduate Aaron Dean, early childhood education isn’t simply a career he chose. It’s a calling he grew up watching firsthand.

His mother has worked in childcare throughout Aaron’s life and has owned Little Darlings Child Care Learning Center in Catonsville for about 12 years. Long before Aaron studied child development or learned how to create a lesson plan, he was watching his mother care for children, support families, and build a business around work she loved. Today, he is helping her lead that same business—and preparing to one day carry it forward.

“It’s not even a job for her. It’s a passion,” Aaron said. “She always wanted to help kids. And she really has a big heart in keeping kids safe, making sure that they’re in a nurturing environment, making sure that they learn. Just preparing them for school and life in general.”

Those lessons stayed with Aaron. But as a high school student, he wasn’t yet certain he would make childcare his own career.

That changed after a conversation with his mother.

“She was like, ‘You would be a great fit in childcare,” Aaron recalled. “’Kids really look up to you. You’re a great role model. You would be a huge influence.’” She also told him she hoped he would eventually help run the business and take it over when she retired.

For Aaron, the path ahead suddenly made sense.

Turning Experience into Expertise

Aaron already had years of exposure to childcare when he began looking for a college program. But he wanted more than experience. He wanted to understand the why behind the work he had grown up around.

After exploring several colleges, he chose Carroll Community College’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) program and quickly knew he had found the right fit.

“When I went to Carroll, the whole ECE program blew my mind,” he said. “I was just in love with it from the start.”

Aaron came to Carroll wanting to deepen his knowledge of early childhood education and earn the degree he needed to advance into a leadership role. The ECE program taught him more about how children develop from birth to age five, how to respect individual differences and diverse backgrounds, and how to develop effective teaching strategies and lesson plans. This knowledge now helps him support Little Darlings’ teachers.

Carroll’s ECE program also took him beyond the classroom. Through a field experience at preschool in Eldersburg, Aaron had the opportunity to work directly with children, helping them with schoolwork while putting into practice what he was learning at Carroll. “That prepared me a lot,” Aaron said. “Being able to actually work with kids, helping them learn, making sure they’re safe.”

Motivating Mentors

Just as his mother helped Aaron recognize his potential as an educator, Carroll’s faculty helped him develop confidence in that potential.

He credits Carole Williamson, Jessica Sichel, Heather Bailey, Jennifer Dunn, and other Early Childhood Education faculty members with challenging and encouraging him throughout the program.

One influence that particularly stands out was Williamson, whose conversations with Aaron helped keep him focused on where his education could take him. She would remind him that he was a strong role model and that she saw a future for him in early childhood education. “It just really kept me motivated,” Aaron said.

By the time he graduated, Aaron felt he had grown not only as an educator, but as a person. His studies helped him become more aware of different backgrounds and perspectives and more intentional about treating people as individuals without bias.

From Graduate to Leader

When I went to Carroll, the whole ECE program blew my mind. I was just in love with it from the start.

Today, 26-year-old Aaron is already putting his Carroll education into practice as assistant director of the Little Darlings Child Care Learning Center. He helps oversee about twenty staff members while still stepping into classrooms whenever needed. Eventually, he hopes to become the center’s director and continue the legacy his mother built.

He doesn’t envision reinventing what his mother created. Instead, Aaron wants to preserve the nurturing environment and commitment to children that he has witnessed throughout his life while bringing his own perspective to the center.

One idea is to incorporate technology that can help teachers communicate, plan lessons, and access resources better while maintaining the person-to-person interaction young children need.

Carrying the business forward would mean more than professional success.

“It would mean the world to her,” Aaron said of his mother. “She’s already happy about everything I’ve been doing so far. Just seeing her proud of me, that’s all I ever wanted in life.”

Showing Children What’s Possible

Aaron’s impact, however, isn’t limited to what he teaches. Who he is can matter, too.

As a Black man working in early childhood education, he has noticed he is often one of few people who look like him in professional settings. Rather than seeing that as a drawback, Aaron sees it as an opportunity to broaden what children imagine for themselves.

“I want to show them that they can accomplish anything, no matter what,” he said. “They can be anything. They can be a teacher, assistant director, a director.”

He has already seen what that representation can mean.

Aaron recalled working closely with a boy who did not have a consistent male figure in his life. He spent time talking with him, helping him with math, and playing football with him outside. The boy’s mother later told Aaron how much she appreciated the impact he had made on her son.

“She said it was truly a blessing,” Aaron recalled. “And I said, ‘Of course. That’s the whole goal right there.’”

It is a goal that reaches beyond preparing children academically. Aaron wants the young people in his care to know they are safe, capable, and supported, and to leave his care with the confidence to pursue whatever future they envision for themselves.

For Aaron, this mission connects the past, present, and future: the example his mother gave him, the education and confidence he gained at Carroll, and the influence he now hopes to have on another generation.

“I want to help them grow and learn in life,” he said. “Just help them prepare for the world.”