Nora Berigan
Today, Berigan is a seasoned early educator who is earning her master’s degree on Early Childhood Education Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She’s also a Strategies for Children intern.
“My career path started when I was in 8th grade,” Nora Berigan recalls. “In our school, we had to participate in 25 hours of volunteer work, and I chose to be an assistant teacher in our church’s Sunday school and was placed with three-year-olds. I had a knack for it, and for the next four years of high school I had a class of my own.”
Berigan says her graduate education has made her a better, more knowledgeable educator, and it has made her more of a resource at the child care center where she currently works as a curriculum coordinator, helping early educators build both their professional and advocacy skills.
Berigan learned about Strategies’ internship program when she met Amy O’Leary, Strategies’ executive director, who was setting up an internship program at UW-Whitewater.
For her own internship, Berigan is working on several projects, including a public information campaign to help people understand the importance of high-quality early childhood programs. Berigan is also helping support the Advocacy Network, Strategies one-year, immersive program for emerging advocacy leaders, by creating activities for alumni who have completed the program to help them remain active in their advocacy.
Berigan’s time at Strategies has expanded her perspective.
“I had the idea that advocacy meant going to the Capital and talking to your state representatives, and saying, I’m done, I’ve spoken to the policy people,” Berigan says. “But seeing Strategies approach, I’m also seeing how we can all come together and work together.”
“Early childhood education needs to be better represented. We can ask for higher pay. We can ask for other things. But in the public eye, early education is not seen as a higher level, necessary profession. We need to win that recognition.”
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Brian Guisao
Brian Guisao is a student at Bunker Hill Community College and an avid history buff.
“My interest in history started around the time President Trump was in office,” he says. “I saw a lot of divisiveness, and it reminded me of the Civil War era and the Civil Rights era.”
As a political science major, Guisao applied to be a Strategies intern so he could see advocacy in action, which builds on his interest in political lobbying. He is curious about when lobbying works for the public good and when it doesn’t.
“I’m also interested in what will help Massachusetts remain strong. We have a good healthcare system and a good education system and a high Human Development Index,” Guisao explains, referring to the United Nations’ measure of “average achievement in key dimensions of human development.”
Another Massachusetts strength, Guisao, says is its bipartisanship. Too often, he says, people vote along party lines and not based on what will benefit the public. However, in Massachusetts,
“We are a blue state, but we have elected Republican leaders like Charlie Baker.”
As an intern, Guisao has had a front row seat on Strategies’ advocacy efforts. He attended last month’s legislative hearing and has created a document logging everyone who testified, and summarizing their remarks. He has also documented and time-stamped Department of Early Education and Care board meetings, to make it easier for advocates to see what agenda items happen during the lengthy Board meeting videos. Guisao is also networking with other policy professionals to learn about staff positions in the State House, where he hopes to work one day.
In his hometown of Revere, Mass., Guisao volunteers with Concilio Latino de Massachusetts (the Latin Council), an organization that supports the Latino community.
Long term, Guisao sees a number of career options, one of them includes running for Congress. This could be an ideal way to combine his interests in lobbying, advocacy, and helping Massachusetts be a state where everyone prospers.