Alanda McKinney Posey decided to become an educator during her sophomore year of college. At the time, Mrs. Posey was working a work-study job through the university for HOPE Worldwide which is an afterschool program for elementary school children in the Lexington 5 school district. Many students in this afterschool program displayed the inability to read proficiently or complete basic skills in the area of math. It was in this experience that Mrs. Posey was convicted to make a change in the world through the field of education.
Soulful Beginnings was founded by Alanda McKinney Posey after completing her first year as a teacher in Spartanburg 7 School District. Working as Kindergarten Teacher in a Title 1 school Alanda Posey was able to educate students affiliated with a low socioeconomic status. Alanda Posey is a certified teacher and has a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina. Post commencement, she completed a research project for the University’s College of Education to determine “Who is the Best Teacher for African American Males?” based upon the parental voice. Alanda Posey noticed the lack of school readiness in African American students dealing with literacy skills in the preparation to learn how to read. Posey then furthered her educational training by going to Converse College and completing an Educational Specialist degree in Literacy and is a certified Literacy/Reading Specialist in the state of South Carolina.
This company has a solid foundation in literacy education and has created a vision to help children become successful, proficient readers. Literacy will be the focus of Soulful Beginnings due to the lack of early literary skills amongst students, which decides their academic success upon completion of kindergarten and throughout their matriculation. By applying a variety of strategies from different teacher resources, extensive research, and field training, Soulful Beginnings will utilize a unique and productive sequence increasing literary skills for emerging and independent readers and writers.
“Our goal here is to help children see their world through a global view, by preparing them to be critical thinkers about everything the read, listen to, and see through their window of opportunity!”
The CEO Speaks
Alanda Posey
