Madison, Wisconsin: University Archives and Records Management Services
Summary
Tanyssa Behnke is an Early Childcare Director at St. Mark’s Church and School in Green Bay, Wisconsin. She was raised mostly by her mother and grandparents who primarily took care of her at their home in Brillion, Wisconsin. She grew up with her older brother as her first real teacher, learning how the world worked by interacting with it through play, both in their own yards and on their grandparent’s farm. She has a degree in Graphic Design from St. Norbert College in Depere, Wisconsin and took several education courses while she was in attendance there. Although she doesn’t not have any formal training in childcare, she did work with the Early Childhood Program in the summers of her college years and found herself fitting into this offered position upon her graduation. Throughout her time at St. Mark’s she has lead teachers in discovering curriculum that allows for great levels of child-environment interactions, often taking ideas from Montessori type schools to incorporate play as much as possible. Tanyssa believes that although it wasn’t a formal early childhood program, her upbringing as a child who was allowed to always be exploring greatly shaped her into the person she is today. Tanyssa is now faced with the rising interest of child and staff safety in an ever more threatening world and is challenged with a soon-to-be career change as her childcare center merges with another. She intends on continuing her education in Administration and offering support to her teachers, students, and parents throughout this transition. Her interests are piqued by the gun-control debates and student safety and she is interested in becoming more involved in these types of conversations on a broader level in the future.