Mohawk College graduate Debbie Crickmore has dedicated her career to advancing the early childhood education profession, mentoring the next generation of ECE instructors, and championing quality child care. For 22 years, Debbie has served as the director and executive director of the McMaster Children's Centre.

In her leadership role at the centre, Debbie has provided hands-on and real-world learning opportunities to hundreds of college, university, and secondary school students. Child care and early learning centres in 16 communities across Ontario have adopted "Raising the Bar on Quality", a community standards program co-authored by Debbie and introduced in 2002. For 17 years, Debbie has chaired the network of Hamilton-based child and youth supervisors and she has served as chair of Mohawk's Early Childhood Education advisory committee for eight years.

Debbie was also the inaugural chair of the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities' ECE Industry Committee for Apprenticeship where she led the development of an alternative education pathway for adults and secondary school students wanting to earn an ECE Certificate of Apprenticeship and ECE college diploma. The pathway provides expanded career opportunities for people working in child care centres without ECE diplomas and meets an urgent community need for qualified ECE instructors.

Debbie is a member of Hamilton's Best Start Network representing child care and has also served as president of the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario's Hamilton branch. Debbie's leadership in mentoring and education was recognized with the YWCA Hamilton Women of Distinction Award."