The Story of Us

Higher Elevations Learning Place was formed by Kurt and Desi Hudson with the goal to be a part of transforming Early Childhood Education in the Portland area.

 

We spent many years hoping we both would meet a true partner in life and both believing that perhaps the chance for a family had passed us by. We had both done extensive work on ourselves, believing that much of our prior challenges came from areas of social and emotional areas that we needed to grow and improve. It was at the end of Desi’s trauma recovery journey that led her to take a month off and hike the Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail.  Through the work and prep of the journey she was able to receive and truly partake in the love and kindness that Kurt was ready to offer.

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The mountain in our logo is a touchstone to where we came from, because it was on that journey of over 500 dusty miles Kurt proposed to Desi at Timberline lodge, less than a year later we were married and pregnant with our first child.  Not the easiest task with us nearing 40 and 50 respectively.  We remind ourselves that we believe most success comes down to the hard work of life, the ability to pick yourself up then dust yourself off, and get back to it. We talk about this daily in our lives as parents with our children. “Yes, this is hard because you haven’t done it or learned it yet, but you can do it.” or “Yes, that was hard and you weren’t able to get it this time, but you will try again, and you will learn it.” Or as every parent knows, “Yes, this is hard but almost all really good things in life come from hard work.”

 

For us, and probably for many of you, parenting is extremely hard nearly every day. It pushes us to our limits and yet it is the thing we love more than anything.  We believe that we can take this belief in the work of life and translate it to the Early Childcare Community.  We want to work to create a place for children to grow and do the fun and challenging work of learning.  Learning socially, physically, cognitively and emotionally. We want to acknowledge how hard our staff works every day and create ways for them to earn a living wage and benefits while extending educational and retirement opportunities that honors the impact they make in our children’s lives.  We always wish to treat this as a career that should be honored and respected. We promise to work as hard as we work for your children as we do our own. We understand that in many cases you're paying as much if not more for childcare than your housing budget to teach your children.  We promise to make every effort to create the environment that has them surpassing developmental milestones and supporting their innate emotional intelligence. We thank you for the trust you place in us.