The Child Development Center (CDC), established back in 1952, is an on-site daycare and nursery that benefits both Georgia Southern students and the community in more ways than one.

The center provides quality daycare assistance not just to those who attend the university but those of the community as well. The daycare center comes with a trained staff whose main goal is to provide a safe learning environment for young kids.

GS student benefits

In many cases, students are able to get hands on experience in their major at the center.

The CDC provides hands-on experience to students majoring in both child and family development and early childhood fields. All those who are to interact with the children are required to have a cogent background check and the experience gives those students not just the ability to learn more about children, but how to become professionals in their field.

Keyontae Britton, senior multimedia film and production major, thinks that it’s a great idea to have the students interact with the kids.

“It’s a smart idea. How else are they supposed to learn how to be a grade school teacher if they can’t interact?” Britton said. “That’s like me being a film and production major and not being able to use camera equipment or any of the technology in Sanford Hall. It defeats the purpose. So I am glad that they have that opportunity.”

From setting up a basic curriculum that allows the students to teach the children to learning how to provide the proper guidance and attention each child deserves, the CDC, according to Megeda Edwards, director of the Child Development Center, allows not just students, but the staff to become greater professionals.

“The organization of the curriculum in thematic units and projects help to insure integration and continuity of the learning process,” Edwards said. “Teachers prepare the environment for children to construct knowledge through active exploration and interaction with other children, adults and developmentally appropriate material.”

The CDC once started off as a Home Economic Nursery School, which eventually led to becoming the CDC in 2006. It was created by merging two existing programs, The Family Life Center (FLC) for preschoolers and The Little Infant Toddler Eagles (LITE) for infants and toddlers.

Maria Bryan, sophomore biology major, would like to see that type of hands-on experience for different majors as well.

“I think that it’s pretty interesting to see that type of hands on experience for those majors,” Bryan said. “With me being a biology major, I think that it would be great to have that type of hands on interaction with other majors as well. It just makes it easier for us to understand and we can get that type of experience that we need in the long run.”