Andrea Straughan: Celebrating 27 Years with AYS
This September, Andrea Straughan is celebrating 27 years of service with AYS. If you’ve had a child attend AYS programs in Washington Township or IPS, chances are you’ve run into her . If you’re a former AYS kid, you might even recognize her from when you were in our programs.
Andrea has built a lasting career here at AYS, but her love for working with children goes back even further. When she was growing up in Barbados, a small island in the Caribbean, her mother worked at a group home where she helped support kids with special needs.
“I used to go to work with her,” Andrea said. “Those kids became like sisters and brothers to me.”
After a childhood in Barbados, she moved to New York, where she lived for nearly 20 years before moving to Indianapolis.
Andrea started with AYS in 1999, shortly after her cross-country move. Back then, she was a single mom, living with her aunt while she built a new life for herself and her two daughters here in Indiana. Every day, she would walk her younger cousins to school at Harcourt Elementary (now Willow Lake Elementary).
“I saw they had a preschool program,” Andrea said. “The kids looked so cute. They held on to little knots on a rope, and that’s how they’d take them around.”
Watching those small children guided by helpful adults reminded Andrea of all the work she had seen her mother do in Barbados and reignited her passion for working with children. She decided to introduce herself to the AYS staff at Harcourt and asked if they were hiring. She applied, was hired within the week, and has been a tremendous asset to AYS programs ever since.
Andrea started out with in a Youth Development Associate role at Harcourt Elementary. She worked her way up to Youth Development Leader, running several sites across Washington Township and IPS over the years.
“I still keep in touch with some of those families I started with 27 years ago,” Andrea said. “I love to see how they’ve all grown up.”
Eventually, she took on more administrative work, serving as a receptionist in the administrative office between programs. After more than a decade working directly with kids in programs, Andrea felt she could use her skills to support even more children by serving as an Out-of-School-Time Manager (OSTM) overseeing programs throughout Washington Township. Now, she serves as a Senior OSTM, overseeing dozens of staff members across the organization.
“My favorite thing about my job is that I get to make sure my staff feel supported,” Andrea said, “but my life revolves around supporting kids.”
Working with kids is truly a multi-generational passion in the Straughan family. Just like Andrea decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps, her daughters followed in hers. Both of her daughters who grew up in AYS programs now work for AYS as well.
“I’m so proud of my girls,” Andrea said. “If I could, I wouldn’t change anything about them.”
Like Andrea and her family, if you’re passionate about supporting kids and the people that work with them every day, we would love to have you on the AYS team. Please apply at ayskids.org/careers.
Thank you, Andrea, for 27 amazing years!