Hello – my name is Elizabeth (AKA Betty) Persons.  I am from St. Louis, Missouri where I taught preschool and a latchkey program for the YMCA before moving to Pensacola, Florida in 1990. I taught 3’s and 4’s at the University of West Florida’s Child Development Center for 14 years and in 2004 I took a position as the Program Coordinator and Professor for the Early Childhood A.S and A.A. degrees at Pensacola State College.  I moved to Tampa in 2016 after I retired from Pensacola State to be near two of my daughters and grandchildren. I have three daughters and 5 grandchildren ages 6 to 18!  My oldest daughter lives in Virginia with my 3 oldest grandchildren, so I split my time between Tampa and Virginia.

My experience in the Pre-K classroom also includes teaching for the YMCA in their Pre-K and Latch Key programs in St. Louis, and teaching 3's at a small private preschool in Illinois.  The field of Early Childhood is my passion!  I have over 20 years experience teaching in Pre-K classrooms and 16 teaching early childhood courses at the college level.  I’m excited to be in Tampa and teaching at St. Pete College. I look forward to getting to know each of you through this course!

Betty