Heather Wells is a 2024-2025 Teach Plus Pennsylvania Policy Fellow. She is the Owner/Director of The Growing Garden Child Care Center, LLC, an Eco Healthy, Keystone STARS 4 facility that serves children ages 1 to 15, located in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. Heather is also the continuing education coach for staff. She opened her facility in 2014 after observing a need for high quality early education services and a continuity of services through childhood in her low-income community. She is a member of Office of Child Development and Early Learning’s (OCDEL) State Advisory Council on the Access to Programs subcommittee and a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Heather attended Slippery Rock University, earning a BS in secondary education specializing in English and a MEd in special education N-12. She also attended Arcadia University and received a graduate certification in infant/toddler mental health.