Alexandra MarchilenaAlexandra Marchilena has worked with children for over thirty-five years. Having graduated with a bachelor's degree in child education and development, she began her career in teaching. Her passion and dedication to working with children started at ayoung age. She found she was able to communicate and bond with children of all ages and capacities. Her humor and creativity always produced connections fluidly with children and parents. This carried over into a lasting career. After working in private institutions with young children and teaching kindergarten for nearly twenty years, Alexandra went on to work with special needs students in a public school setting. Later, creating an algorithm to retain data for functionality in any given task when observing students. She also collaborated on creating several cohesive classroom settings where special needs students would learn alongside and with the aid of their regular learning peers. An environment intended to build inclusion and acceptance. Throughout her career, her ability to relate to children and draw from her own childhood experiences made her a valuable advocate for her students. Her passion for writing started as a child, as well, with her difficulties in expressing herself; her parents encouraged her to write. Later, as an educator, Alexandra was often confronted with similar experiences that always seemed to have the same underlying themes. Drawing from stories told to her by her "aunt", her own experiences, and the experiences of her many students, Alexandra set out on a writing endeavor that was many years in the making. Read More Read Less