About
Mission Statement
Baby Steps to Endless Possibilities Inc. (Baby S.T.E.P.) is dedicated to promoting early childhood literacy through family engagement, community outreach, and equitable access to reading resources. Our mission is to empower families with the knowledge, tools, and support needed to foster a lifelong love of reading, ensuring that every child builds a strong foundation for academic success and future opportunity.
Board Members
Dr. Danielle F. Lowe, Founder and Chairman
Our chairman Dr. Danielle Lowe received her doctoral degree at William Howard Taft University in January 2016. Her dissertation evaluated the effects of attention span and engagement when reading books to infants. Dr. Danielle Lowe is a veteran educator with more than 25 years of experience in both domestic and international classrooms. Danielle also has over 20 years in higher education. Throughout her career, she has been committed to advancing early childhood literacy and sharing research-based best practices with educators across the United States. She is the founder and executive director of Baby Steps to Endless Possibilities Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting family literacy awareness, increasing access to books, and empowering caregivers to support children’s early reading development.
In 2023, after years of advocating against inequities within the public education system, Dr. Lowe founded Dr. Lowe’s Play Academy. Her vision was to create a nurturing, developmentally appropriate learning environment—not only for her own son but also for families seeking a child-centered, hands-on approach to education. Dr. Lowe believes that every child is naturally curious and capable. By identifying each child’s unique interests and fostering a genuine love of learning, she transforms her passion into action, helping children thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Barbara Ann Reimer, Vice Chairman
Barbara is our organization’s vice chairman. She recently received her administrative degree from Long Island University. Has been teaching elementary school students for 25 years and has a passion for providing the most effective and educationally successful lessons. Barbara considers herself an early childhood advocate following a John Dewey style; teaching to the whole child in order to guide excellent literacy skills through a method of citizenship. Barbara believes that learning should be natural, sensible and interdisciplinary. Barbara shares her love of learning with her own children as well with her students. Mrs. Reimer has both her Masters in Curriculum Design and a School Building Leadership Certificate from Long Island University. Along with her SBL, Barbara completed an internship with a focus on special education in a supervisory position. Barbara has been a mentor to many new teachers and has been a long-time member of the Recommended Teaching Interventions (RTI) committee helping fellow colleagues best meet the needs of their students. Mrs. Reimer loves serving as the Vice President of the Baby S.T.E.P. organization as she has witnessed countless literacy successes when reading becomes an vital part of a child’s life.
Dr. Tarkan Ceng, Treasurer
Tarkan, our treasurer, has received his doctoral degree at The Sage Colleges. He has explored participative leadership for his dissertation and is currently the superintendent of schools in New York. Additionally, Tarkan is a “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” trainer and facilitator.
Students’ reading reward: a ‘Fancy Nancy’ principal
Ceng’s costume marked the end of a school-wide reading challenge for students to read five of seven nights a week for three weeks. Tarkan Ceng, principal of Sargent Elementary School in Beacon, reads “Fancy Nancy at the Museum” by Jane O’Connor to a group of first-graders Thursday while dressed as the title character, Fancy Nancy. As disciplinarians and mentors, a lot of school principals have been called a lot of different things by a lot of students. But Thursday may have been the first time some students could refer to their principal as “Fancy Nancy.” There was no mistaking just how fancy Sargent Elementary School Principal Tarkan Ceng dressed Thursday. The man in charge of the Beacon city school wore a straw hat, tiara, feather boa, tiny blue disco ball earrings, white shirt with pink stripes, pink tutu, white tights and pink ribbons in his shoelaces in his effort to promote literacy.
Laura Guadaramas, Secretary
Laura is an asset to the Baby S.T.E.P. Inc. family! She has been a teaching assistant in an inner-city school district for over 20 years working with children in grades K-12. Laura is an excellent planner and event organizer! She has a passion for promoting literacy and working with children.
Middletown teacher finds books can help kids in crisis Research draws global attention
By Heather Yakin – Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM – 09/28/09MIDDLETOWN – As a kindergarten teacher, Danielle Lowe is a believer in early intervention. Early reading helps kids learn later in life, and books can help young children cope with crisis. Lowe, who teaches at Truman Moon Primary Center in Middletown, has been a teacher for 10 years, and kindergarten is what she loves. They’re sponges up till age 6, Lowe said. Lowe also teaches graduate courses as an adjunct professor at SUNY New Paltz, and she has just started working on a doctoral degree through William Howard Taft University. One of her focuses is using books to help children deal with crises. Kids face issues from the everyday, such as test anxiety, to more dire things such as violence. There’s a lot of scary things in their lives, Lowe said.
On Sept. 12, 2001, Lowe said, she learned from three crying students that they each had a parent who never came home the night before. One child asked her to read a book and calm was restored. She started collecting books to address the crises kids face; not happy topics but needed topics, she said. I do the research behind the topic and suggest books. She mentions Was it the Chocolate Pudding; a book that helps kids understand divorce and that it’s an adult problem, not the kids’ fault. The use of literature to do this is called bibliotherapy. It’s important to help kids with these issues. In talking to children, at that age, a lot of them do think it’s their fault, she said.
Lowe’s work has drawn attention in academic circles. In March, she presented her research article “Helping children cope through literature at the Oxford Round Table at Pembroke University in Oxford, England. She presented her work at the National New England Teacher’s Conference in Nashua, N.H., in 2007, and in July at the “I Teach K!” National Kindergarten Teacher Conference in Las Vegas.
Last year, Lowe and some colleagues started a Books for Babies program with Middletown Thrall Library. They handed out reading-tip pamphlets and books to parents at hospitals and in poor neighborhoods. She hopes to restart the program because early reading goes a long way. In Ireland, where Lowe co-taught in 2006, schools send liaisons to parents to encourage early reading. Lowe has also made international education a focus of her studies. They start at birth there, talking to parents,” she said. I really think that’s what we need to do. We need to support early childhood development.
hyakin@th-record.com Read More
Working Together
Our board members like to collaborate to create special projects. For instance, Diane and Danielle Lowe authored and illustrated a children’s book entitled “Trixie the Christmas Pixie.” On the other hand, Danielle, Tarkan, and Barbara are all facilitators and trainers at Starlab.