Local preschool teacher strives to educate and protect her community

LaTricia Hillman, owner of The Loft Preschool and member of the NAACP, was taught the power of education and speaking up for what is right at a young age and carried those values into adulthood. 

Hillman was born in Cleveland but grew up in Palo Alto, California. After graduating from New Valley High School in 2001, she worked as a nanny for a short time.

As her nannying job ended, Hillman decided it was time for her to leave California, but she wasn’t ready to leave her family's safety net. So when Hillman's grandmother invited her to come to live with her in Oxford, Hillman took the opportunity. 

Hillman made the move to Oxford in 2003 and started her career in early childhood education after earning her Child Development Associate certification from The ChildCare Education Institute online. In 2005, she became a preschool teacher for Oxford Early Childhood Consulting (OECC), working there until it closed in 2014. 

Hillman said when OECC closed several kids who were enrolled there still had one to two years left before going into kindergarten. Parents who needed somewhere for their kids to finish preschool encouraged her to open her own place. 

“One of the parents was like, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’” Hillman said. “And I was like, I figured I was just going to finish school and then move on from there. And then another parent said, ‘You know, you should open up your own.’ And then another parent was like, ‘If you open up your own, I will send my kids with you.’” 

In the same year that OECC shut down, Hillman opened The Loft Preschool. Hillman said her love for teaching was a product of her mother’s influence. 

“There was always something to learn,” Hillman said. “There was always something that I needed to know about.” 

Hillman continued her education at Prescott College, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education in 2024. Currently, Hillman is finishing her master’s there in environmental education and sustainable development. She said one of the things that makes her preschool stand out from others is the focus on nature.

“I’ve noticed that kids learn better when their whole body is moving, when they are physically moving and touching and engaging, as opposed to sitting in a classroom,” Hillman said. 

Outside of her work as an educator, Hillman is also part of the executive committee for Oxford’s NAACP chapter. Hillman said she has a passion for fighting for civil rights and believes everyone deserves to have their voice heard. 

“As a society, we are better when we work together and when we hear everybody's voice, not just a few people's voices,” Hillman said “Even when the voices are wrong, we still need to hear them because at some point they will bring a different idea or a different way of looking at things.” 

Hillman has lived in Oxford now for more than 20 years and said she loved raising her family here because it has such a good community, a community she plans to continue supporting through her work at The Loft and the NAACP.