by Mira Poling
Daily Lobo
The population of UNM changes each semester and students can expect some knee-high additions this particular winter - 70 new children will enter UNM's Child Care Center.
The space for additional children is available due to the center's recent merge with Manzanita and the use of a new larger facility.
Manzanita, a lab school for the College of Education, was originally created to research children. However it was only open from 9-11:30 a.m., creating problems for parents who worked and went to school.
"We started brainstorming about taking the strengths from each program and combining them," said Elena Aguirre, director of the center.
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By joining the center, the Manzanita children will benefit from having additional teachers with degrees, a program accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and from being in contact with more diverse age groups.
The researchers will also benefit through a larger population of children to support the research and eight classrooms instead of two.
Manzanita will bring faculty with connections to the latest research, practice in writing applications for grants and accessing funding to the program.
Aguirre said that due to the research, new, innovative ideas about curriculum and teaching methods are going to be incorporated in the school. They are discussing the possibility of starting a kindergarten and first grade program focused on principles such as hands-on work and allowing the kids to initiate much of the curriculum.
Teachers from the outer community will be welcomed to observe the new teaching methods, and medical, nursing and pharmacy students can practice giving presentations to the students.
About 35 of the new children will be coming from Manzanita and the other 35 will come off the waiting list due to the now completed renovations that began in April 2001.
Since 1983 the Child Care Center consisted of "three poor, old portable buildings that had lived their lives," said Aguirre.
The new facilities were partially funded by Associated Students of UNM and Graduate and Professional Student Association student fees and have increased the capacity for 173 full-time kids. The goal is to enable more student families to get their degrees through recruitment and retention. Aguirre said that it will benefit the single mothers in need of higher earning capacity.
"If you're 19 and you're pregnant, you can still finish your degree," she said. "We're mentors, too."
The center organizes social events for parents to meet each other and the teachers, while young mothers can be introduced mothers close to finishing their degrees.
"It will really change their lives so we have to continue supporting child care," Aguirre said. "I'm pretty nuts about what I do."
The next Information Fair will be on Nov. 14 at the UNM Child Care Center at 1210 University Blvd NE.
A Family Studies graduate class will set up booths with information for parents on topics ranging from nutrition to fingerprinting.
