About me

My name is Marlene Stennett-Mitchell. I was born on the beautiful island of Jamaica. I came from a family of 4 siblings and I am the third girl. I have two older sisters and one brother which is one year younger than me. Growing up in Jamaica I was very close to my brother, we would do everything together, like playing games riding bicycles, climbing trees, and even playing football with his friends. While my older sisters had moved on to high school my brother and I was still in junior high. Since I was one grade ahead of him I would help him with his homework and sometimes class projects. It was from there I grew to love working with children. His friends got jealous when he was getting all his work correct so they would ask their parents if they could come over so I could assist them with their homework. We lived in the same community so their parents would not say no since they didn’t have the time to do it with them because of work. Some evenings I would have at least five boys over on my parent’s porch doing homework. I did this until I finish high school. After high school and I was to start teacher’s college in the summer my parents allowed me to convert my eldest sister’s room in a classroom. I ran a summer class of ten students six boys and four girls ages ranging from four to ten. I was paid by their parents who really appreciate the service because this was the place they could leave their kids and go off to work without any worries. I did this for six weeks and end it the second week in August when I now had to start getting ready to go off to college. I spend four years at Shortwood Teachers’ College where I obtained a degree in Early Childhood Education. I taught in Jamaica for 27 years working with children from ages 4 to 9 years old. In 2011 I migrated to the United States with my family and continue with my teaching skills where I must proudly say I have done 37 years and would do It all over again.