South Carolina Early Childhood Association

PROVIDING SUPPORT AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS

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The 2026 SCECA Conference

We are now accepting Call for Proposals - Clink the link below to sign up!

"A Village of Voices for Children"

Have you heard the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”? Every child should have a village that works together to provide guidance, encourage a sense of belonging, and offer support to positively impact their lives. It truly takes a community of family, friends, educators, and therapists.

Mark your calendars for February 5-7th, 2026 and join us in Greenville, South Carolina for our annual SCECA conference.

Let’s be the village of voices our children not only need but deserve!

#findyourvillage

2026 SCECA Conference

Feb 5-7, 2026

Greenville Convention Center
Greenville, SC

Conference Registration

You must register online,

even if you plan to pay by check.

2026 Conference Planning Committee

Ashley Riddle - 2026 Conference Chair Judy Whitesell - SCECA Meeting Planner

Dona Pitts - SCECA Executive Director

Stephanie Barton - Chief Financial Officer Brandy Wix - SCECA President

Questions? Contact:

Dona Pitts: 803-924-1421, executivedirector@sceca.org

Stephanie Barton: 803-522-5839, cfo@sceca.org

Featured Speakers

Friday, Feb 6, 2025 (after the keynote)

Advocacy Luncheon Event

A delicious luncheon will be served and a special message will be delivered to all Early Childhood Educators. Must purchase a ticket to attend. Credit: PD/ 1 hr.

Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026 @ 12:30 - 2:00pm

Student Special Event

Food, Fun & Door Prizes!

SCECA will treat SCECA Student Members to a pizza lunch and a fun filled experience. Come ready to learn by doing and collecting new skills and ideas you can utilize in your classrooms. We hope to give you plenty of ideas to make you a successful teacher of the future.

Must purchase a ticket ($5.00) to attend the Student Event. Credit: CU/ 1.5 hrs.

Keynote Speakers

Thursday, Feb 5

Friday, Feb 6

Saturday, Feb 7

SC Endeavors Number

The SC Endeavors Registry is the agency that documents the DSS credit hours you earn during the year. Each person has their own unique number called the State Registry ID. If you do NOT have a State Registry ID#, you must go to the SC Endeavors website and create an account to be assigned a State Registry ID#. This number is very important and you will need it to register for the conference and for each session you attend. Go to www.SCEndeavors.org and click on “Registry Login” to create an account or login to locate your State Registry ID#.

We are using a digital conference app, SCHED, and you will use this app to document your attendance for each session. The conference program will be posted on this app. We will send the link to the app in January. You will see a Conference schedule for each hour. It will include the session title, the presenter, and the DSS code. You can click on the title and a drop-down box will appear with the session’s description to help you decide if this is the session you want to attend. All sessions are color-coded by the DSS codes for the sessions.

CU - Curriculum
HS - Health & Safety
GR - Growth & Development
NU - Nutrition
PD - Professional Development
CG - Child Guidance
PA - Program Administration
SN - Special Needs

2. The computer program will track your attendance and your participation when you complete the Google form provided in each session. If you attend one session each hour, you can earn 3 hours on Thursday night, 7 hours on Friday and 7 hours on Saturday. The only session that is repeated during the conference is Blood Borne Pathogens.

3. If your internet connection is weak and you lose your connection, please log back in as soon as possible so you can receive your credits. You must be logged into a session for 50 minutes to receive credit. If you do not have a smart phone, you can ask to sign the roster sheet. The Room Monitors will have the sheets.

4. At the conclusion of the conference, the SC Endeavor’s Liaison, Ashley Riddle, will enter your attendance and participation into the SC Endeavors system for you to receive your credit hours. Please be patient as this is a huge undertaking and will take quite a while to accomplish. You can check SC Endeavors in mid-April for your credit hours. SCECA will email a certificate with the sessions you attended during the conference and received credit hours for.

HOTEL Information

Registration Details

Deadline to apply to attend the 2025 SCECA Conference is January 15, 2025. After, January 15th, the conference fees will increase by $25 to encompass the late fee. We will continue to take online registrations until Monday, 2/3/2025. If you receive a scholarship and you have already paid with your personal funds, our Registration staff will refund the fees you paid after the completion of the conference.

All forms should be completed on this website. Payment can be made using your credit card online, or you can mail a check in after you complete your online registration. Checks should be written to SCECA and received by January 15, 2025 to avoid the additional $25 late fee.
You will need to enter your home address, personal email and personal cell phone number to register. This must match the information you gave to SC Endeavors. Please check your personal page on SC Endeavors to be sure they match your registration information. Even if you are a part of a group membership, we need each person’s individual information. If you do not have an email address, you will need to get one from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or another source. We cannot have multiple members with duplicate email addresses.
You will receive an email receipt and confirmation of registration when you pay online with a credit card.
If you choose offline payment by check, you will receive a notification of Pending Registration. You are not registered until SCECA receives your payment. You will receive a receipt, and confirmation of registration once your check has been received. Checks returned for insufficient funds will be charged a $30.00 fee.
NO REFUNDS FOR REGISTRATION!
Purchase orders can be processed this year. If your school district needs to process purchase orders to get permission to attend, you will register for the conference and choose the "invoice me" option. Print/email the invoice to the appropriate district office employee. Email approved Purchase Order to Stephanie Barton at cfo@sceca.org. Purchase Orders must be paid by February 1, 2025, or at late fee of $25 will be assessed.

Scholarships

The ABCQ Program and SC First Steps 4K has offered scholarships to attend the conference. Their deadline to sign up for scholarships is stated on their application. Be sure to respond quickly to apply for these scholarships. Once scholarships are awarded, ABCQ and SC First Steps 4K will send in the information to the SCECA Registration Committee. Then, they will send you specific instructions on how to register for the conference online using a unique scholarship code. You must register for the conference online BEFORE the conference. You will have the option to purchase additional event tickets for preconference sessions, the advocacy luncheon, and pre-order t-shirts when you register. The scholarship pays for your conference registration and your SCECA membership only. If you pay your registration and membership fees before you are awarded a scholarship, SCECA can refund those fees after the completion of the conference. If you aren't sure if you won a scholarship, contact the agencies to be sure before the conference.