For immediate release
UTB/TSC Breaks Ground On Early Childhood Center
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – JUNE 24, 2008 -- The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College’s littlest Scorpions helped break ground for the $5 million Center for Early Childhood Studies on Tuesday, June 24.
Several preschool students from the Raul J. Guerra Early Childhood Center donned small hard hats and used miniature shovels to aid university leaders in ceremonially kicking off the center’s construction.
The center will tentatively open in April 2009 on University Boulevard and house 160 children ages 3 to 5. Students from 2 weeks old to 2 years old will stay at the existing childhood center, the Guerra Early Childhood Center, behind Cardenas Hall North.
Yvette Garcia began attending the Guerra Early Childhood Center at three and graduated in 1989. She said the lessons she learned there helped her in social development and in her education, which she capped off last month by receiving a pharmacy doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin.
“I was very fortunate to have very caring, dedicated and wonderful teachers (at the Guerra Center),” Garcia said.
The construction site has already been leveled preparations are under way for work to begin.
“Right now, it’s a dream, a vision, a plan,” said Mike Wells, project architect and director of the Early Childhood Studio at T. Howard + Associates Inc. in Dallas.
The center will have an administration building housing a kitchen, cafeteria, art classroom, conference room and first aid room. There will be four smaller buildings, or casitas, with two classrooms each for children to receive innovative instruction.
“What better to give a child than to give him that foundation to be a success?” said Gayle Brogdon, interim dean of the UTB/TSC School of Education.
John Sutterby, an associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, said the years from pre-birth to 6 years old are the most important for brain development and learning skills. He said children typical learn 10 new words a day until they turn six.
“Children need to be exposed to learning environments that stretch their imagination,” he said.
The casitas will each have an observation room for campus faculty, students and teachers to see the children’s development of cognitive, language and social skills. Nursing and psychology majors can also benefit from observation for their studies.
“Whatever our professions may be is the result of a teacher, and I remind you of this because today we take a huge step in ensuring that education in South Texas continues to challenge the minds of both the students and the educators that teach them,” said Dolly Zimmerman, a former member of the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees who was involved in the project’s Board Bond Advisory Committee.
The casitas pay homage to homes for officers that were once on the military base the university is now located on.
The center’s financing is part of the $68 million bond package approved by voters in November 2004.
For more information go to www.utb.edu and click on Construction Projects.