Early Learning Center near capacity, STEAM Camp is growing, and summer projects were under budget
The Paton-Churdan Early Learning Center* and its companion STEAM Camp are both off to great starts, according to P-C principal Annie Smith.
Smith told the Paton-Churdan school board earlier this month that there are 40 children enrolled in the P-C Early Learning Center in the modular classroom building just east of the school. Two classrooms – birth to 2 years and the 2-year-old room – are full with waiting lists.
The entire project has evolved just since Aug. 1, when a committee of volunteers started cleaning and painting the building after it was vacated by a previous tenant. Volunteers raised money and scrubbed donated toys and furnishings for the center. Smith estimates that total start-up cost was between $4,000 and $5,000, and of that, the school paid only about $1,500. “We’ve had a great response, huge community response,” Smith said.
The employees at John Deere in Paton have even come on board, donating their pop cans and bottles to the fundraising group on an ongoing basis.
The Early Learning Center is already self-sustaining financially. Amy Minnihan, who has several years of experience in childcare centers, has been hired as director.
The STEAM Camp, a program for school-age children three Wednesday afternoons a month, has also taken off. Part-time middle school math teacher Katie Nygaard organizes the camp with hands-on projects each week to teach lessons in science, technology, engineering, arts and math. As many as 23 students have attended the camp. Each week is planned as a lesson of its own, giving families flexibility in how they use the camp, although the children do build vocabulary from week to week.
The board also received the good news that the summer maintenance projects had come in under budget. Estimates for the six projects totaled $64,912. Final cost was $63,763.
The most noticeable of the projects is a remodeling of the front office. A wall was replaced with windows and secretary Ann Meyer’s desk was moved so she now can see anyone coming into the building. An added bonus is that her computer screen is no longer visible to people waiting in the office, increasing confidentiality of student information. Work on the office cost $5,923.
The largest project was replacing windows and tin on the exterior of the building at a cost of $30,000. The school spent $16,580 on new computers, $7,172 to create a family/handicapped accessible restroom, $2,895 on gym floors and $1,192 on electrical work in the media center.
*The Paton-Churdan Early Learning Center and the Greene County Early Learning Center are not affiliated with each other.
