Our Story
Our story began at a different school, actually several different schools, where we all worked together, some of us for almost 10 years. We are not just a group of women who decided to open a preschool, we are a group of professional educators, brought together by fate, that chose each other as co-teachers, business partners, mentors, and most importantly friends.
Upon receiving the news that our former school was closing, devastation does not begin to scratch the surface of our feelings. Not only were we grieving the loss of employment, we were also grieving the loss of our community, our home, our family. The future we thought we were helping to build was torn away and our path looked less certain. Personally speaking, I could not imagine working with any other group of educators. When I began at our former school, I was a long term sub and former parent. Yet, the faculty welcomed me with open arms. What made our faculty so strong, was that we all knew our weaknesses. We sought advice from colleagues with different methods and philosophies and learned from each other. We helped each other, laughed together, leaned on each other, and became better educators together. This community, this relationship, this is what we stood to loose.
But it wasn’t just the community of educators we would loose, it was the community of families we had grown apart of. When a child entered our classroom, they became one of ours. We hugged them when they were sad, celebrated their milestones, kissed their booboos, potty trained them, loved them as our own. Saying good bye to them and their parents was just so hard, for all of us. We just didn’t feel ready to let our babies go. Commiserating together, one person said, “Why don’t we start our own school?” and thus Embark was created. Embark is not only the new journey that we start together, it is also the majority of our founders’ initials (the others can be found in the logo). It is something we formed together starting our work family on a new path. Our goal is simple: to create a welcoming, inclusive, family oriented community in order to provide children their best start on their educational journey.
Through the summer we met, nailing down our shared values and mission, creating vision boards and solidifying our educational philosophy. We met with industry professionals to help us with marketing, bookkeeping, and business. We worked hard, waiting to find the perfect property. Along the way we had some major disappointments, but with the help of our amazing relator, we found the spot: 120 Sparks Valley Rd in Hunt Valley. We are proud to finally make our dream a reality. We will be opening our doors September 2021 and we cannot wait to welcome you to our new home. We hope that you will embark on this journey with us.
Working together to form our collective vision
