Catholic Charities teacher earns Head Start honor
Diana Angel honored for her dedication to Miami-Dade’s youngest learners
LEISURE CITY | For Diana Angel, teaching young children is about far more than lessons, activities and developmental milestones. It is about understanding what each child needs and creating an environment where every child feels safe, valued and loved.
Diana Angel, an Early Head Start teacher at South Dade Child Development Center in Leisure City, was awarded Infant and Toddler Teacher of the Year at the Head Start/Early Head Start Pre-Service Conference.
That philosophy has earned Angel the distinction of Miami-Dade County Head Start Infant and Toddler Teacher of the Year. Angel, who has worked as an Early Head Start teacher at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami’s South Dade Child Development Center for the past year, was surprised when she learned she had been selected.
“I don’t believe it,” she recalled saying.
But those who have watched her work were not surprised.
Evelyn Molina, regional director for South Dade and Good Shepherd Catholic Charities Child Development Centers, described Angel as loving, creative and dedicated.
“When I would walk into her classroom, I could see that the children felt comfortable with her and that the parents had developed a trust,” Molina said.
As a young mother with a small child, Angel continued her own education while also teaching her son at home. She had already earned a pharmacy technician certification, held a technical degree in systems and studied business administration.
But as she watched her son learn, Angel discovered how much she enjoyed helping a child understand something new and achieve a goal.
“I started my career in education as a teacher’s assistant in 2018,” Angel said.
She spent five years at ARC and two years at Le Jardin before joining Catholic Charities. Today, she is pursuing an associate degree in early childhood education at Miami Dade College and has also studied in Florida International University’s Early Childhood Bilingual Certificate Program.
Teaching infants and toddlers requires special attentiveness. Young children often cannot explain what they are feeling or what they need. Their behavior can become their language.
Angel experienced this with a child who struggled to communicate and frequently cried, bit or hit. Rather than seeing his behavior simply as a problem, Angel watched carefully and tried to understand what he was communicating. She even prayed for the strength and wisdom to understand him.
Eventually, she discovered something simple: the child was hungry.
After breakfast, his behavior changed. He became calmer and began showing affection toward Angel. She introduced pictures and choices to help him communicate his needs, and gradually he became less frustrated and more willing to participate.
“She understands that every child is different,” Molina said. “She doesn’t expect them all to learn, behave, or adjust the same way. She gets to know each child and works with them from where they are.”
During Angel’s first year of teaching, a co-teacher brought five little caterpillars into the classroom. The children fed and cared for them and watched them grow and change.
Some children who had cried when separating from their parents began looking forward to school because they wanted to see the caterpillars. Parents became interested, too.
For Angel, the experience reinforced an important lesson: learning can create joy, and joy can create connection.
Angel also wants her students to know that they belong.
“She makes her children feel wanted and that the classroom belongs to them,” Molina said. “She makes them feel that they belong and that they are important to her.”
Angie Greggs saw that difference through her son, Ahmad, who was in Angel’s class.
“Ms. Angel has made a meaningful impact on Ahmad’s educational journey in Early Head Start,” Greggs wrote. “Each day when I pick him up, he is excited to share what he has learned.”
Greggs said Ahmad learned to recognize and recite the alphabet and numbers and interact well with others.
“Because of her hard work, dedication, and care for her classroom, I know he is ready for Head Start,” Greggs wrote.
Angel’s Catholic faith is an important part of how she understands her work. She sees teaching not simply as employment but as a vocation and an opportunity to serve children and families.
“My faith in God is an important part of who I am, and I try to bring that faith into the way I live and serve others,” Angel said. “I see teaching young children as a vocation, not simply as a job. It is a responsibility that requires love, patience, compassion, and dedication.”
That belief is reflected in her classroom. She listens, observes and encourages. When a child struggles, she looks for the reason behind the struggle rather than defining the child by it.
The children Angel teaches may be too young to someday remember a particular lesson, activity or even their teacher’s name.
But Angel hopes they remember something more important: how they felt — loved, safe, welcome, capable and encouraged.
Her journey from a young mother teaching her own child at home to an award-winning early childhood educator reflects a calling she continues to pursue.
Each morning, Angel returns to the classroom with the same purpose: to help children learn while making sure they know they are loved.
For Angel, that vocation can begin with something as simple as a smile.
And in that smile is a message every child deserves to hear: You are welcome here. You matter. I am glad you are here.
