Every year, we gather all of our franchise owners of the Celebree School network together to learn, connect, and grow at our Grow Big Conference. Celebree School of Smyrna is honored to share that our owners, Alexander Ernst, was nominated for this year’s Rookie of the Year Award. This award recognizes owners who have made an incredible in their first year, building strong teams and a thriving school family from day one. Hear from Alex about what this award means to him.
Looking back on your first year, what has been the most rewarding part of your journey so far?
There are several items that are very rewarding so far:
- First, is seeing all the children at our school, coming in and smiling, laughing, playing, learning, growing. As we have been open for almost 8 months so far, I have been able to see the children grow and develop every day. Some started as infants not yet walking, and now they are fully active toddlers running around and discovering the world. As I spend a lot of time in the classrooms, I have been getting to know every child and develop a relationship with them. It’s so nice to enter a classroom and have the children look at me with a big smile on their face saying “Hello Mr. Alex”.
- Second, it’s getting to know the families and really serving them on their most precious little treasures. We do our best to provide a high quality education and service, and we connect every day with the families, sharing stories on the development of their children, etc. It’s so enriching to see the smiles in their face when they come to drop off or pick their children, and seeing them being very comfortable that their children are in a safe place, where they can thrive and grow. It’s an honor and privilege to be able to serve the families.
- Third, it is to see the creation of an amazing team, starting with our leadership (School Director Anne, Assistant Director Rebecca, and recently our School Support Manager Zoie), and every single teacher who are in the classrooms, giving their best to protect, nurture, and educate all of our little children. Seeing them committed and growing with our school makes me feel very proud – we are clearly on the right path growing people Big and Small.
What helped you build strong relationships with families right from the start?
Ultimately, our school has been founded with the goal to provide the best holistic education for the children and their families. It’s a deep conviction and our reason to be. As a family, we have two daughters, now aged 18 and 21. So we understand deeply what it means to have children and the willingness to given them the best to grow with confidence and curiosity, so they can succeed in life and be happy persons. This deep conviction just makes the relationship with our families very genuine. We clearly want the best for their children and we work hard every day for that. And I think that simply translates in our daily interactions with all the families. I think they can see our deep commitment to our vision of providing the best quality education – and they clearly appreciate this.
What are you most excited about as you continue to grow your school?
Just being able to see our continuous growth in the community, Growing People Big and Small is our big motivation for the future. We want to be able to continue providing a highly personalized experience and education at scale. As we are growing, we face the challenge of leading and managing a much larger school, so we are reinforcing all of our operating processes for proper scale. We look forward to continue connecting with the Smyrna Community, which is an amazing community!
