Andrea Cruz

Andrea attended and received a BA in Human Development with an Early Childhood Development Concentration from California State University East Bay. Andrea began working for the YMCA of the East Bay in 2015 but began her story with the YMCA at the age of three as a Y-Child. At a young age, Andrea enjoyed caring for young children and looking out for them and their needs. As she came in to the YMCA, this grew her love and passion for the work in Early Childhood and the importance that this has on children birth to five. Andrea began as an on-call substitute then moved in to a teacher role where she then joined the apprenticeship program to obtain her Bachelors degree. As her passion for this field grew, she knew that there was more she wanted to do apart from helping build the growth of children. Being in the role of teacher and having the opportunity to mentor past apprentices through the program, this gave Andrea a broader perspective on new opportunities to help grow and strengthen the Early Childhood Field. Andrea has now stepped into the role of Success Coordinator in hopes to support other staff that are continuing with their education to accomplish their goals and build their strength and quality of teaching in the field.