In
just six short months we will be celebrating ten years of business. At times,
it feels like we just opened our doors yesterday. And yet, at other times, it
feels like a lifetime ago when we welcomed our first student. What a whirlwind
of an adventure owning Coastal Day School has been! There have been AMAZING
moments that I have shared because of this business. Moments I would have never
had the honor of being part of if it weren’t for our little school. And of
course, there have been downright awful moments that we lived through, not
knowing if it was ever going to get better. There were times in the last ten
years that I counted pennies to buy groceries for my family, and other times
that a family outing or vacation was only possible because of CDS. I’ve spent
countless hours praising God for placing me in this position and just as many
hours begging Him to make everything better. As I type this, I can truly say, I
am grateful for it all. I am grateful for the good times for the obvious
reasons but I am equally grateful for the bad times. It is in those times of
despair that you find your passion and work hard for what you want. It’s in
those times you test the limits of your commitment and truly find out what you
are capable of. It is in those moments that the mission of Coastal Day School
became clear to me and I decided it was worth everything I had to see our
little school change lives.
Our
mission at CDS is simple.
We want to provide a learning environment where students
feel loved, safe, and respected, and where teachers provide a broad range of
activities to help each child learn to the best of their abilities. We work
hard to foster independence, growth, and friendships. We also strive to provide
parents and staff with a community of adults that care for their family and
will support them.
My staff and I work very diligently every day to
make sure that we are doing just that. Facilitating a community, a family, that
will support each other and grow together. We spend countless hours planning and
preparing lesson plans, activities, and events for our families to participate
in and enjoy. We spend time together, mentor each other, and help each other
become the very best educators we can be. And in our opinion, we are just
getting started.
We have dreams for CDS. BIG dreams. Wild, crazy
BIG dreams.
We dream of building a facility that will meet
the needs of our students and offer our teachers opportunities for growth they
couldn’t find anywhere else. We dream of a school that will have spaces for our
students to create, explore, and express themselves. We dream of a school that
will provide our students with cutting-edge technology to prepare them for the
world we live in. A school that has space to accommodate the whole family. A
place that our community can utilize. A place that feels like home each time
you enter it. A space that doesn’t have a line to get into the bathroom and has
more than enough parking spaces :)
Like our success thus far, we can’t do this
without your support. We would love your prayers along the way as well as any
advice or suggestions you have. If you see a piece of property or building that
would work, let us know! We will also be having several fundraisers to help
with the crazy costs of everything that it takes to build a building or upfit a
new space. Our first fundraiser will be a LuLaRoe Mom’s Night Out on Friday,
March 11th at CDS from 7-9pm. All proceeds from the fundraiser will
go towards our new building fund! It’s going to be a fun night with lots of
cute clothing!! Here is the Facebook Event link if you’d like more information!
To everyone that has been there for us over the
last ten years, thank you. Thank you for believing in us, trusting us, and
encouraging us. Your love and support means more to me than you could possibly
know. It is my hope that you feel the same from the entire CDS staff in return.
With love,
Ashley
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