Child Care Provider - STEPHANIE P. (User #838919)

My name is Stephanie Paulk.  I lived in Florida until I was 22 and moved to Connecticut in 2006 to work at ESPN.  I have been in production with ESPN since 2006.  I am 3rd of 4 children in my family.  My Mom was the Director of Children's Ministries at our Church for 10 years.  I volunteered in the Nursery from age 13 through 18 until I left for College.  In addition, I was the Director of Preschool Games for our VBS each summer in high school.

I began babysitting when I was 12.  I had 5-10 families for whom I was their primary babysitter throughout middle and high school.  A started babysitting a few of the kids when they were infants and was able to be their babysitter until they were 6 years old, when I left for college.  Overall, I have babysat for 25+ different families.  In addition, each high school summer, I worked at the Univ. of Florida Center for Autism where I interacted with and experienced children with learning and developmental disorders. 

 I went to college at the University of Florida.  During my time there, I was recruited to run for the University but instead, I chose to be a Track and Cross Country coach at Oak Hall School (a private school grades K-12).  It was such a rewarding experience.  Though only middle and high school students were eligible to run, I started a running program for elementary kids.  Along with a fellow coach, we had 40+ kids in our program that promoted running, exercise, and teamwork.  In addition, I was a nanny for 2 of the 4 years.  I had 2 familes, for whom I babysat 20 hours a week. 

 Since moving to Connecticut, I have only babysat a few times, and really miss babysitting and being around kids.