1. S I U C H E A D S T A R T 6 1 8 / 4 5 3 - 6 4 4 8
M A I L C O D E 4 3 3 6
1 9 0 0 N O R T H I L L I N O I S A V E N U E 6 1 8 / 4 5 3 - 3 8 8 8 F A X
C A R B O N D A L E , I L L I N O I S 6 2 9 0 1
h e a d s t a r t . s i u . e d u
December 2, 2014
To whom it may concern:
It is my pleasure to write this letter of recommendation on behalf of Lauren McInerney.
I have had the privilege of knowing Laruen for nearly a year since she has come to
SIUC Head Start as a student volunteer and then an intern.
Lauren came to the SIUC Head Start program to gain volunteer experience, provide a
service to her community, and fulfill course requirements for graduation. I supervised
Laruen’s internship requirement for the semester in which she spent nearly 24 hours
each week in our administrative office. Lauren was able to participate in a wide
variety of activities in which she was able to learn about the comprehensive services
of the Head Start program. Lauren was able to participate in agency planning
meetings, attend staff trainings, assist with screenings, participate in parent meetings,
assist with several monitoring tasks including family meal observations and health &
safety inspections at centers. Lauren became familiar with the program’s database
system – entering both child and family information as well as tracking staff training.
Lauren took all tasks very seriously – even when it seemed like a task that anyone
could do, she was able to see how even small tasks help the program succeed.
Lauren was organized, efficient, and able to complete tasks with little supervision.
Lauren was able to spend some time in the classrooms; where she quickly and easily
built relationships with children. Lauren had the opportunity to attend many
community collaboration workshops, again to see how Head Start fits into the
community as well as learning more about early childhood collaborations and quality
improvement opportunities for the Head Start program.
Lauren valued the experience that she was given and is already an asset to the field
of early childhood education and is sure to succeed in any position that she obtains.
Thank you for taking the time to consider Lauren. I would be happy to answer any
further questions, please feel free to contact me at 618.967.7572.
Sincerely,
Toni Kay Wright, MS, RD, LDN, SNS
Program Operations Coordinator
SIUC Head Start
SIU.EDU