Josh Brown | Chief PhotographerOf the 72 children attending
the Child Development Center, 50 percent are children of Appalachian
State University students, and 50 percent are children of Appalachian
staff members.
Josh Brown | Chief PhotographerSenior applied communication
major Eric M. Marshburn reads to two children in the Child
Development Center Wednesday afternoon.
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Appalachian State
University junior Mindy L. Church loves her job.
For 13 hours a week, she reads aloud, sings songs and plays pretend
as one of more than 50 students employed at the Child Development
Center, located on Poplar Grove Road.
“I switched my major because of [this job],” Church
said. “I came up here to do interior design, and I liked
doing this so much I switched [my major] to child development.”
The Office of Student Development first started the program in
1975, after demonstrations held by female students regarding the
need for childcare on campus.
Barbara W. Daye, the dean of students through the 2001-2002 academic
year, was able to pull the entire program together in the span
of two weeks, placing the directors and 20 participating children
in a small house where Thelma C. Raley Hall now stands.
Current director Peggy Eller said
she was not sure the program would last.
“When I started here in 1988, [parents
paid] a dollar an hour. And if you used it you paid, and if you
didn’t, you didn’t [pay],” Eller said. “That
scared me. There were so many people in need of childcare that
it didn’t seem fair that you had that space reserved for
somebody and they didn’t show up. The space wasn’t getting
used plus we weren’t getting the income.”
To correct the revenue problems, the center
switched to a full-, half- and quarter-time choice system, which
required payment whether the center was used for those times or
not.
“There was some faculty/staff who had
wives who didn’t work but wanted to use it so they could
get their hair done or had to go grocery shopping; they could
just use it as a drop-in,” Eller said. “What that did,
going to a set revenue, was people who really needed it got the
opportunity to use it.”
Administrative secretary for the Chancellor’s
office, Christine R. Popoola has used the center for more than
four-and-a-half years for her two daughters, Amber, age 4, and
Marissa, age 1.
“We do not have family in the area, but
I feel the center has been like family to us. We have been like
a team,” Popoola said. “When I leave my kids there I
have the utmost of confidence that they are in great hands.”
Popoola said she chose to use the center for
several reasons.
“First and foremost I believe it provides
the utmost of quality, love, guidance, structure and attention,
more than any other child care center in the area,” she said.
“Second, it is on the same schedule as the university. Third,
its location is in proximity to the campus. I can get there very
fast. Fourth, the instructors are all educated and have been there
for many years, and they truly love our children as if they were
their own.
“My children love the center. [Marissa]
especially loves her teacher Ms. Wanda. There have been many days
where once she walked into her room, she ran to Ms. Wanda to be
held and hugged. She doesn’t seem to mind when I leave. She
has developed wonderfully, and there is no doubt in my mind that
the most important thing she has received is love, attention and
affection.
“Amber has developed and grown. She has
learned so much ... She tells us stories and talks about her day.”
Popoola’s husband, Appalachian State University
soccer head coach Benedict O. Popoola, agreed the center was the
best choice for childcare.
“We are blessed to have the opportunity
to have our children in the university day care with excellent
teachers full of experience [and] devotion and we are grateful,”
he said.
After several location moves, the Child Development
Center finally settled on Poplar Grove Road, where it can now
hold 72 children, 50 percent belonging to students and 50 percent
belonging to faculty or staff. Six spots are used for children
with special needs.
Church, who has worked at the center since
her freshman year, said one of the hardest parts of her job is
watching students grow up and leave.
“[The best part] is just spending time
with [the kids],” Church said. “At preschool age when
they graduate [it’s hard]. The group that’s in there
now that’s going to be graduating is the group that I was
with when I first started. It was hard enough on me last year
and I barely knew them. But it’s fun while they’re here.”
No matter their major or gender, the majority
of student-employees have reacted positively to the job, Eller
said.
“This year, probably more then any other
year, I’d say we’ve got about 62 percent of our enrollment
with single parents,” she said. “For a lot of these
children there’s no male role model in their home, and when
they come in and there’s a male employee in the classroom
there’s just an attraction to that male.
“[The students] give of themselves emotionally
and physically ... they see that these kids are not at home, that
they need that individual attention, that the teachers cannot
do it alone and that they’re making a difference.”
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