St. Paul Presbyterian Day Care Center employees who completed the VGCC training included, from left, Barbara Terrell, Keshia Thorne and Brenda Lynch, all residents of Louisburg. Not pictured: Mary Spencer. (VGCC photo)
Vance-Granville Community College recently partnered with Saint Paul Presbyterian Church Day Care Center in Louisburg to provide continuing education to all employees of the center’s afterschool program. The staff members included Brenda Lynch, Mary Spencer, Barbara Terrell and Keshia Thorne.
This five-star center holds the distinction of being the first in the Franklin-Granville-Vance Partnership for Children/Smart Start to achieve the goal of having all staff complete “Upping Your After School Game,” a training workshop conducted by VGCC School-Age Education program head Jacquelin Heath. The center’s director, Patricia H. Privette, arranged for the training at the urging of Brenda Yancey, Quality Enhancement Coordinator at the FGV Partnership for Children. Both Privette and Yancey are also VGCC graduates.
The four educators received certificates that acknowledged their completion of the “School-Age Professional Core Competencies Training” developed by the N.C. Center for Afterschool Programs and the N.C. Afterschool Professional Development Work Group. All four are alumni of VGCC’s Early Childhood Education program.
Lynch, who has worked at the center for 21 years, said she found the course helpful because of its focus on “how to deal with kids in the afternoon and do different projects with them, including how to implement certain games and communicating with their parents more effectively.” Terrell, an 11-year veteran of St. Paul, added that the training directed her online to find activities and games for older children, but some of what she learned could apply to the younger children who are also taught at the center. Thorne, who has worked at the center for four years, also emphasized the parental communication portion of the training. “I got so much out of this program,” Thorne said. “It was an excellent workshop, and I learned more about the additional education I could pursue. I think that all afterschool program staff need to take this course, particularly to help get the parents more involved.”
Other topics covered during the workshop include the characteristics of effective leaders; starting and funding afterschool programs; hiring and training staff; and working with volunteers. This one-day professional development course will be offered again on Saturday, March 14, and Saturday, May 9, on VGCC’s Main Campus in Vance County. For more information, contact Jacquelin Heath at (252) 738-3298.