The Oz Credo Institute of Creative Thinking held a graduation ceremony on Dec. 22 to honor 36 graduates who completed its Child Development Associate program. The event, attended by local leaders, educators, and community members, highlighted the institute's mission to empower educators and professionals with the skills and knowledge to nurture the next generation of creative thinkers.
Located in Valley Stream, the institute is recognized as a trailblazer in creative thinking. It blends educational innovation with a focus on personal and professional development. Founded by Olga Zbarskaya, the institute has become a hub for programs that prioritize creativity as the foundation for decision-making, problem-solving and emotional intelligence.
“We teach people professional confidence, we teach them integrity, we teach them ethics,” Zbarskaya said. “We pay a lot of attention to professional ethics because when you work with children, ethics always come first."
The CDA program, a comprehensive 120-hour course, equips educators, childcare providers and business owners in early childhood education with nationally and internationally recognized credentials.
The graduation event featured guest speakers, including Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and representatives from Aspire New York, a leading organization for educators in the state. The speakers further emphasized the importance of investing in early childhood education and commended the institute for its role in shaping skilled, compassionate professionals who will have a lasting impact on young learners.
“We had our graduates who came out, and they gave a very inspirational speech,” Zbarskaya said. “They were talking about how this course has changed their life, not only professionally, but personally."
Zbarskaya shared her vision for the institute, which offers an extensive range of programs beyond the CDA course. These include professional development and continuing education for educators, childcare directors, healthcare professionals and administrators. The institute's training sessions cover critical areas such as social-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, and behavior modification, as well as specialized topics like CPR, first aid and emotional intelligence.
The graduation also celebrated the broader mission: to cultivate creativity as an essential discipline in education. Zbarskaya, who has also authored multiple books on creativity and brain development, emphasized the need to teach creative thinking as a skill, starting in early childhood.
“Everything starts from your first teacher. I always tell my students, if you just go outside, and you randomly stop 20 people, regardless of their age, culture background, religion, age and so on, and you ask every one of them ‘What was the name of your first teacher?’ All of them will tell you,” Zbarskaya said. “They may not remember their girlfriends, boyfriends, neighbor's names, but everyone remembers their first educator’s name; preschool teacher, or maybe kindergarten teacher, that's how important those people are.”
The institute’s impact extends beyond the U.S. with international projects, including a recent initiative to provide professional development for higher education faculty in Ukraine.
For the graduates and their families, the Dec. 22 ceremony was a celebration of hard work, growth, and the promise of a brighter future for children and communities. As Solages remarked, “It all starts with educators.”