A Helping hand: Multifaceted Child Development Center provides learning experience for student-parents and children
Assistant Teacher, Veronica Ruelas makes sure the children at the Child Development Center at San Diego City College are playing safe. Ruelas has been working at the center for almost four years after graduating in 2011 with an associates degree in Child Development. Photo credit: David Pradel
March 14, 2015
The San Diego City College Child Development Center serves many purposes. The on-campus childcare center serves students, student-parents and children. It features a playground for playing, a classroom for learning, a place for connecting, and structure for growing.
Licensed by the state of California, the Child Development Center is located on the southeast end of campus at 1601 B St.
“The Child Development Center is a lab for people who want to pursue an early childhood, teaching degree,” Director Berta Harris explained.
Child Development students take regular classes with coursework but must also spend time at the center where they get hands-on experience teaching and interacting with children.
“They also get to watch and learn how kids grow, think and play and also observe how the young children socialize with other kids. This offers the student an excellent way to implement ideas and theories learned during their college program and studies in a great environment,” Harris added.
The daycare program also provides a place for City College student-parents to leave their children in a safe, convenient location right on campus while they attend class.
Psychology student and mom, Stephanie Acevedo, has brought her son to the school for more than two years.
“I go to school early in the morning so I like the convenience of the daycare while I go to school. It’s nice having so much diversity in the students and the staff as well,” Acevedo said.
Parents that have their children in the daycare program are required to take child development classes and volunteer at the center three hours a week. Moms and dads not only gain knowledge through the courses and lab time, but they also get to have fun seeing their child during their busy day. In addition to the certified teachers, they also serve the needs of the center by providing another set of eyes on the kids.
Tammy Boates is a Child Development Lab Tech and has been teaching the children and mentoring City College students for 25 years. Her favorite thing about working with the toddlers is, “Watching them discover their environment. And it’s great that parents can have childcare for free or at low-cost as it’s a state sliding scale fee that has to do with their income level.”
“We accept infants and children up to age five. Currently there is a waiting list for child enrollment but applications are now being accepted,” Harris said.
The center is not a drop-in or drop-off care center, but more of a structured pre-school setting that allows for fun play and learning where the child, the student, the parent and staff all benefit.
For more information about the program contact the facility at (619) 388-3205.
Beeno • Mar 19, 2015 at 2:26 pm
“The daycare program also provides a place for City College student-parents to leave their children in a safe, convenient location right on campus while they attend class.”
Please, SDCC mothers really have to protect their loved ones when doing anything at all around this inner-city school: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/talia-gore-child-kidnapping_n_1088120.html and http://www.cbs8.com/story/14583726/insider-info-on-woman-accused-of-kidnapping-baby
We’ve all read about fairly recent violence and tragedies not only near to the campus, but on the campus itself. We’re all cautioned to be aware of our surroundings when attending this school. What we’re not let in on is how this constant inner-city fear and suspicion can affect our grades.
Yes, that’s right, does all this hostility adversely affect our grades? Has anyone transferred to another junior college and had their grades improve? That might not just be curriculum and staff, it might really be a better, more serene learning environment. Ever see the campus at Pt. Loma Nazarene? Classrooms with panorama views of the ocean. Now contrast that with SDCC.
This kidnapping at the Day Care Center is one of the worst imaginable things to happen to a mother: kidnap, slavery, and human trafficking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking “Human trafficking” probably encompasses the other terms in its definition, they’re redundant here. But to have the worst possible crimes happen not only near campus but on it, it gives one pause.
“There’s No ‘A’ in Trying” was one protest sign I saw back in the ’90s when they had the strikes and protests then over class size and composition. But there is an “A” in “kidnap,” which is certainly a course I wouldn’t want to major in. All the debate about what and who goes to college, all the anger about tuition (now Gov. Brown’s BA’s in junior colleges and President Obama’s plan on free college) can be seen here, it’s all here in SDCC and it’s not all good.
There’s also an “A” in “Transfer to a Different College.” Find fault with any issue at this school and it’s your fault, you’re accused of “trying” rather than getting any kind of praise for being a dilligent student. What, if any, extra training did the Day Care staff receive after this happened to ensure it’s never repeated? Are we reassured?
Really, this media is questionable in the way it presents its articles. Isn’t there an adult present?