One team pursuing one dream
Nearly 500 early childhood education professionals and advocates gathered at Hershey Lodge on March 27 for the fourth annual Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning (CHS) Early Childhood Education (ECE) Leaders Summit.
Centered on this year’s theme, One Team, One Dream, the event brought together professionals committed to strengthening outcomes for young children and families through collaboration, innovation, and shared learning.
Designed for a wide range of professionals supporting children and families, the event brought together educators, administrators, health services professionals, social workers, and nonprofit leaders. ABC27 anchor Ali Lanyon served as the emcee, guiding participants through a day focused on connection and collective impact.
One Team, One Dream
The ECE Leaders Summit opened with a keynote address from Erica Dhawan, an internationally recognized authority on teamwork, collaboration, and innovation.
Named one of the world’s top 50 management thinkers by Thinkers50, Dhawan is the bestselling author of Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence and Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance. Her work focuses on helping organizations build trust, break down silos, and unlock the collective power of teams, increasingly essential skills in fast-changing and digitally connected workplaces.
Drawing on experiences advising organizations such as Coca-Cola, FedEx, Walmart, and the U.S. Army, Dhawan shared strategies for strengthening communication, fostering authentic engagement, and building cultures rooted in trust. Her message emphasized that meaningful collaboration begins with intentional connection — a principle deeply aligned with early childhood education environments.
“Teachers are day-to-day busy in the classroom,” Dhawan said. “Information piles up. It’s hard to create a space to reflect and really think about what matters now. And in my keynote, I talked about how we don’t just revert to an old normal but create a better normal. And that’s really the intention of today, to reflect on where we’ve been, where we are now, and where we want to go moving forward as one team and one dream.”
Breakout sessions: Building skills and perspective
Following the keynote, participants selected from expert-led breakout sessions designed to provide practical, immediately applicable strategies.
- Trauma-Informed Care: Becoming a Trauma-Sensitive Educator
Facilitated by Jen Alexander of Jen Alexander Consulting, participants explored how dysregulation impacts behavior and learned ways to embed brain- and body-based regulation practices into classroom routines. - Emotional Agility: Managing Stress, Change, and Uncertainty
Facilitated by Jolene Pickens of DAME Leadership, this interactive session equipped professionals with tools to manage stress, navigate change, and foster resilient, empathetic team environments. - Dads in Action: Elevating Father Involvement for Developmental and Life Success
Facilitated by J. Michael Hall of Strong Fathers–Strong Families, attendees gained actionable strategies to meaningfully engage fathers and strengthen family partnerships through research-based outreach models. - Joy in the Work
Facilitated by Nefertiti Poyner of Mighty Works Education Group, this reflective experience encouraged participants to reconnect with purpose and rediscover the passion that fuels their work supporting children and families.
“I think it’s really important to have a strong sense of community that we can lean on and be vulnerable with,” CHS New Danville Associate Teacher Madison Biagio said. “And to know there are people supporting and cheering us on.”
Afternoon breakout sessions focused on actionable approaches to supporting children, families, and professional wellbeing.
- Challenging Behavior: Setting Limits Through Play
Facilitated by Christian Bellissimo, Play Therapist, participants explored play-based strategies that support co-regulation, social-emotional learning, and positive behavior development while helping children build self-regulation skills through connection and play. - From Wiggly to Focused: Supporting Children’s Sensory Needs
Facilitated by Prerna Richards of Together We Grow, this session highlighted how sensory play, movement, and understanding children’s temperaments can transform challenging moments into opportunities for connection, engagement, and growth. - Supporting Parents and Caregivers of Neurodivergent Children
Facilitated by Dr. Katherine Endy of The Family Life Coach, participants gained a deeper understanding of neurodivergence and explored practical strategies to better recognize and respond to families’ unique needs and experiences. - Why Attendance Matters
Facilitated by Dr. Emma Herdean of Attendance Works, this session examined how early attendance habits influence belonging, wellbeing, and long-term success, while providing strategies for partnering with families to support consistent engagement. - Heartset® Education: A Culture of Caring
Facilitated by Stu Semigran of Educare Foundation, this interactive session introduced the eight skills of Heartset® Education, emphasizing mindfulness, empathy, self-care, and relationship-building practices that support both educator wellbeing and positive learning environments for children.
Inspiring the next generation
Milton Hershey School seniors and current CHS interns pursuing careers in early childhood education also attended the Summit, gaining exposure to leaders in the field while working toward their Child Development Associate credential, a reflection of CHS and MHS’s shared investment in developing the future ECE workforce.
Moving forward together
As Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning continues expanding including the upcoming opening of CHS New Danville and additional centers planned in Elizabethtown and Lancaster City, the ECE Leaders Summit remains a cornerstone of professional learning and collaboration.
By convening nearly 500 professionals under a shared vision, the Summit demonstrated how collective learning strengthens not only individual organizations, but entire communities.
Together, attendees embodied the spirit of One Team, One Dream, working toward brighter futures for children and families.
Sensory processing integration and strategies: How challenging behaviors align with sensory needs
By Prerna Richards, CEO & Founder, Together We Grow When I founded Together We Grow, I wanted to give educators and caregivers the resources they need to create responsive and.....
Empowering Parents as Their Child’s First Teachers
By Patrick Eckelmann, Learning & Development Manager at CHS for Early Learning When a child is born, they start a life filled with possibilities. While children grow and learn throughout.....
Early Literacy and Libraries: Building Strong Partnerships for Learning
Even before children start their formal educational journey at early learning centers, they have taken their first steps toward learning to read and write. Literacy doesn’t begin at kindergarten or.....
Not Just Books: How Educators Can Support Families in Promoting Early Literacy
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…The man who never reads lives only one,” said George R.R. Martin, the American novelist. Reading is the foundation for exploring curiosity.....
