Grace Duran completed her Bachelors degree at the State University of New York at New Paltz with a speciality in Communication Disorders and will complete her Masters in Early Childhood Education from St. John’s University in December 2011. Grace has taught at preschools in Brooklyn and Queens working with students from two to four years old. While completing her studies she worked as a substitute teacher for children in kindergarten through middle school, as a reading tutor, summer camp counselor, and also as an intern at the Center for Cognition and Communication where she assisted the therapists in administering cognitive evaluations. Grace moved to the United States from the Dominican Republic at the age of thirteen not knowing any English and she attributes much of her academic success to the great support of her English as a Second Language teachers. Grace has experienced in her work the importance of showing all students they are valued as individuals and the impact that giving a student individual attention and caring can have on their ability to grow.