Winter 2023

Tanza Terrell

Director and Educator

Roots Activity Learning Center

If there’s one word that defines Tanza Terrell, it’s “love.”

“I’m loving, I love what I do, and I’m passionate about children,” said Terrell. “I just try to have a positive outlook on life, place happiness in people, and make people smile.” 

The drive to spread happiness and make people smile is highlighted in the many hats Terrell wears. Along with being an educator and director at Roots Activity Learning Center, Terrell is also a mom, a wife, and a songstress. On top of all that, she’s also an ordained minister who will soon open her own church.

“One of the reasons why I actually wanted to pastor my own church was because I wanted [the children in my family] to be able to have a place where they can come to feel safe,” said Terrell. “To be able to express themselves in worship.”

Just like with her work in ministry, Terrell sees showing love as central to her work in early childhood education.

“I feel like in ministry your purpose is to show people how to love,” said Terrell. “I don’t really tap into so much of a person’s choice of religion, I just try to show love.

Children, they need love. Human beings need love. Children can pick up whether or not you’re loving. They can pick up whether or not you’re here to care for them. They can pick up whether or not you’re passionate about what you’re doing.”

If there’s one thing Terrell isn’t lacking, it’s passion for education. She has her aunt to thank for that.

“She was a teacher,” said Terrell. “She would always line out all these papers and I was just in awe of her checking [them] off. She would always tell me stories of her students. I would find myself always lining up my doll babies and I would care for them and teach them.”

At first Terrell wanted to be an elementary school teacher like her aunt, but after getting pregnant out of high school, she felt her dreams of college were over. Then after her sister told her about a job opening for a part-time assistant, she found Roots.

“I’m like, okay, I needed the job,” said Terrell. “ And so when I started, even [after] the first day I [thought] wow, I was really ready to come back.”

One of the things that made Terrell connect with working at Roots was the inspiration she got from the children. 

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“Children are phenomenal,” said Terrell. “They’re phenomenal at handling life situations more than adults. I’ve met some children that have had some of the hardest lives, the hardest dispositions and situations, and they still come in happy. They’re still smiling. I’m watching them as they grow and how they handle things. It actually matured me.” 

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Just like the children at Roots helped Terrell grow, so did the staff. 

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“They said you should try to go get your CDA,” said Terrell. “They started talking to me more about how I can become more educated because it was more than just talking with the children, playing with the children. Then I started to understand them a whole lot more.” 

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Continued encouragement from her colleagues led Terrell to pursue a Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education. While she started thinking she’d take the typical four years, things took longer than expected. 

“That did not happen in the time it was supposed to,” said Terrell. “Having children, oh my goodness. And then math was the worst. I had to retake math over and over again. I finally got it in 2018.” 

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Although it took a while, Terrell kept pursuing her Bachelor’s because she knew she needed it to get where she wanted to go.

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“It opened up doors,” said Terrell. “One, for me to be more knowledgeable. I did get a higher payscale, which was a blessing. And then I was able to have my own classroom, and so it gave me more responsibility.” 

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Now in her first year as a director at Roots, Terrell certainly has more responsibility. Along with administrative work recruiting and dealing with finances, she still works in the classroom too. While the workload is heavier, she won’t be giving it up anytime soon. That’s even with her new church opening soon. 

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“I cannot stop working with children,” said Terrell. “That would just be the wrong thing to do, especially in a time and place of growth where I’m moving forward in ministry. I couldn’t stop because I would need to be able to continue to show love. 

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I want to tap into feeding the hungry, providing materials and things for families, and outreaches for children. The ministry is not to have a place just to be in leadership but to be able to provide for families.”