On March 18, Holway Early Childhood Center at Rockwell reopened after four years of the building being unused.
The Rockwell preschool was re-licensed to re-open in February of 2024, and educators decided to move all preschool children enrolled to the Barn over to the Rockwell location.
Kellee Miller, executive director of the Holway Early Childhood Centers said, “Currently, we have two classrooms open, a preschool one (for younger students) and a preschool two (for older students). The teachers from the Barn moved over here as well. We are currently enrolling preschool age children for preschool one and preschool two, as well as a transition kindergarten for September.”
Before reopening to accommodate students and families, the building also went through some upgrades and renovations. “I think the largest renovation was that we tore down a wall in the room next door to expand our transitional kindergarten program. So we'll have 14 children in that room starting in September,” Miller said.
“We removed a bunch of carpeting, some old doors, we have new flooring, new French doors, and new paint. We just spruced it up a little bit,” Miller said.
DNS Landscaping renovated the playground.
Both the Barn and the Rockwell are full day programs, but the Barn will serve the younger age group children.
The Barn currently has one infant classroom, but the Holway Early Childhood Centers team is in the process of adding a second infant classroom in the Barn, as well as a classroom for ages one to three.
“We're also adding a preschool age group over at the Barn that will be for the children who will flow into our transitional kindergarten here. By adding that classroom, we're setting ourselves up for enrollment for the future,” Miller said.
“Both locations are operating on the same curriculum, same philosophy. We have families who are enrolled in both schools. So we're really marketing it as the Holway Early Childhood Center, with two locations. So it really is the same school with just depending on age where they will be,” Miller said.
Sophomore Aurora Kong has been working at the Holway Early Childhood Center since the beginning of the semester and says the changes are good, but has noticed some changes in the children moving into a new building. “It takes longer for them to fall asleep at nap time. Some of the kids are starting to act out a little bit more just because they're in a new environment,” Kong said.
Kong also credits working at Holway Early Childhood Center as a good work experience, “It broadened my perspective of what I could do and I didn't think I would love working with kids, but then at one point, I even questioned, ‘Oh, should I just become an [education] major?’ because they're actually so fun to hang out with,” Kong said.
Along with Miller who serves as executive director of the Holway Early Childhood Centers, Elizabeth Riley was named the new associate director.