$15,000 worth of playground equipment installed in CEU child care center

Walking around a college campus there are a few things that you expect to see, such as publicity for upcoming activities and students studying for their next class. But the last thing you would ever look for would be preschool aged children on a brand new playground. For years there have been small children coming to CEU to go to preschool and last week a new playground was installed in the courtyard outside the CBB.
Program director Phil Brown said of the preschool, “It’s been here longer than I have and I’ve been here since ’76.” There was a period of time when the college did not have a preschool for a few years due to a lack of space. But 13 years ago when the Computer Business Building was completed the education department got their space back and the preschool was started up again. The old playground was built at this time and had become outdated which is why this year the school built a new one.
When the building was built and the preschool put in place a few saftey issues, mostly concerning the way the fence was constructed, came up. The problems were fixed but over the years they had come to the surface once more. With the help of the welding department these problems should soon be taken care of. Also, new sand and ground cover were put into place, making the playground a not only safer but also cleaner.
The project cost around $15,000, not including the labor that was mostly provided by students. This money came from a portion of the preschool children’s tuition that had been saved up for several years as well as some departmental money that had been saved.
This year there are around 40 children being taught here on our campus every day, 20 in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. They are instructed by college students here who are majoring in Early Childhood Education, under the supervision of a head teacher. Brown explained, “The head teacher does some demonstrating and then begins to turn over to the students first small bits of each school day until later in the semester when [the students] are able to plan and take charge of a whole week where they are responsible for everything from buying the snacks to planning the lessons.”
To qualify to work with the children in the preschool students must first be an early childhood education major, meaning that one can teach preschool through the third grade. You must take all prerequisite classes which include child development, early childhood education, curriculum and child guidance. The education program continually grows, this year it includes about 150 people.