Happy 7th Anniversary to A Child's Garden Learning Center
Seven years ago we were rushing for opening day. The stress, the paper work, the uncertainty... it was never ending. Buying a van and having it wrapped, creating a sign, designing the website... So much to do and a lot of it couldn't even be started until the building was done and I had the keys. Already opening a week later than scheduled because of some rainy weeks, we worked many late nights and early mornings painting the walls, unboxing equipment and shuffling boxes from room to room. To say our feet hurt is an understatement. We had friends and family come and help in anyway they wanted, often jamming to 80's rock and eating whatever someone wanted to go get, from whatever place was open at midnight.
When we began this journey we had 8 classrooms and I wanted every classroom fully stocked with toys and furniture by opening day so I could enroll as they called and I wasn't continually trying to get things ready for children to start. We had tons of outdoor play equipment to set up. We had 8 classrooms to get laid out. 12 tables to put together, 78 cots, 6 cribs, 12 - 6' shelves, 160 Tubs to organize toys in for those shelves, and assemble 8 classrooms full of large little tykes and step two play equipment.
We held an open house the weekend before we opened and were able to meet the families and the children that had already enrolled. Then finally, on Nov 11, 2013 we opened our doors to 19 children and 10 staff! We took a lot of phone calls and gave a lot of tours, but within 3 months our center was fully enrolled and staffed for all 8 classrooms.
Throughout the years we have had many employees, but Tacey Lucas and Katie Short have been with the center since our opening day. They are both irreplaceable and valued employees. Tacey was my second interview. She is a Master teacher in one of our 3 year old classrooms. She is motivated and dedicated and enjoys the creativity of a classroom and takes pride in teaching her class Spanish and sign language along with our preschool curriculum. Katie qualifies as a Master Teacher but is our Assistant Director of Staff. She runs the show. She is energetic and bubbly and always has something coming up for the kids. She is super fun to work with and is always ready with an idea or a way to solve a problem.
We have so many staff that has been with us for years. Jessica has been with us for 6.5 years, Lisa, Chelsea, Jessica B, Taylor and Jennifer have been with us for 4 and counting. Most of the others have been there for 2/3 years or have left and then come back. We have made lots of friends through the hiring process and we miss many of the teacher that have since moved on but we were so blessed to have had some great teachers over the years.
A lot has changed with our center in the past 7 years. In 2016 we had already outgrown the building. So we decided to build a storm room and use it as the after school room, and in doing so we created three more classrooms. Then in 2019, I knew it was time to add on again, so this time last year we built on the new School age building (The Hang Out) and added 5 more large classrooms and another play area. (Next summer we are working on our play areas outside...) I think we are able to handle our growing community much better through these changes and we look forward to offering you a great place for you children to come to for years to come.