A Quarter Century in the Classroom

Susan Blaisdell graduated from college with a Bachelors degree in early education and went on to serve as a teacher of first through fourth grades at Rye Elementary in Rye, NH for 10 years.

25 Years in the Classroom

She has been a teacher at Edgewood Early Learning for 25 years, arriving just after the center first opened. She started as a substitute and over the years has worked in every classroom, teaching in the preschool room for the majority of those years.

Susan is now Edgewood’s Assistant Director of the Early Learning Center in Portsmouth, NH and loves what she does just as much today as when she started.

A Family Experience

Last year Susan’s preschoolers traveled to the farm of one of Edgewood’s nurses to pick blueberries with the residents. They had what Susan recalls as a fabulous day together picking berries off the bushes (eating at least as many as landed in the buckets) and sharing a picnic on the lawn.

“Those times when the kids are with the residents are some of my favorite times,” shares Susan. “Because Edgewood has such a family atmosphere, you become really close to the children,” Susan says, “Graduations from the preschool room when they go off to Kindergarten are the hardest. I just miss them so much.”

Susan checks in with parents of former children whenever she can to see how they’re doing. She remembers every one.

“She’s Every Parents Dream”

Take Donovan, for instance, who was at Edgewood Early Learning with Susan for years and is now heading off to middle school.

“Susan still tears up every time she asks me about my son, Donovan, she just loves him that much,” replies Tricia Cummings, Edgewood’s administrator, when asked about Susan’s influence on her family.

Tricia continues, “Can you imagine? Isn’t that every parent’s dream – to have the teacher love your child just as wholeheartedly as you do? Susan really understood Donovan in a way that few other people have. I just think what a gift for him – to have someone like her there at those early stages of his life.”

Susan responds, “It just means so much to hear you’ve made a difference. I love what I do. The great smiles of the kids and their little hugs remind me every day what I’m there for.”