Nadine Coleman Gay: Excel By 5 and Early Childhood Education in Petal

What does it take to build a community where every child starts school ready to succeed? For Nadine Coleman Gay, the answer is 30 years of work — and the story of how Petal, Mississippi became the state's first Excel by Five certified community. Nadine moved to Petal in the early 1990s as one of Mississippi's very first public kindergarten teachers. What followed was a career devoted to connecting families with the resources, support, and early childhood education they needed — work that eventually led to her founding and directing the Petal Parent Center, now named the Coleman Center in her honor. In this episode of Talk of the Town, Nadine shares the origin of Excel by Five — including how a kindergarten teacher's dinner-table conversations with her husband sparked a statewide initiative backed by Chevron and Governor Haley Barbour. She breaks down what Excel by Five actually means for Petal families, how the Coleman Center serves as the community hub for early childhood resources, and why catching developmental delays before age three can change the entire trajectory of a child's life.