by Celeste Finn, Executive Director of Big Wonder Child Care
Big Wonder is grateful to call St. John’s home. As a small nonprofit early childhood program, we opened in 2023 with two teachers (including myself as the founder) and two children (one of whom was my son). Now we have 50 children enrolled and 11 extremely dedicated staff members! We are grateful to St. John’s as they have made space available for us as it grew organically over the past three years (we have expanded enough that we are now using the entire 2nd floor). We are creating a community where children, families, and teachers thrive together.
At Big Wonder, we believe every child deserves access to high-quality early childhood education, regardless of a family’s income. We provide needs-based scholarships to families who cannot afford the full cost of care but do not qualify for government assistance. These families often fall into a difficult gap—earning too much to receive support while still facing an impossible financial burden for child care. Scholarships help make quality care possible while allowing parents to work, pursue education, and support their families- a significant and important step towards gender and racial equity in our city
We are developing and modeling real solutions for early childhood education. We draw inspiration from Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and spiritual inquiry to create a place of learning where children are curious, capable, and active participants in their education.
Our guiding principle is simple: we honor the unique rights of children, families, and teachers to create a just and harmonious community. This commitment shapes our approach to race consciousness and anti-bias education. Through action research and reflective practice, we continually examine our classrooms, materials, assumptions, and teaching practices. We ask difficult questions about whose voices are represented, how children experience difference, and how we can create more equitable learning environments.
As a nonprofit, our work extends beyond our classrooms. We are steadfast advocates for the rights of children and teachers, and we believe quality early education requires both accessible care for families and a rewarding, sustainable profession for educators. This work takes us to the capitol and we work to build alliances across Minnesota of child care providers working to create an equitable system children, families and teachers need and deserve.
Big Wonder is a small organization with a big vision: to help build an early childhood system where children experience wonder, families can access quality care, and teachers are respected and valued for the essential work they do.
St John’s support has been instrumental in our capacity to serve children and families. St. John’s has been a home where our vision has taken root and flourished. For this, we are immeasurably grateful.
