Nolan, 2 years old, kicked around the dirt in the pathway next to the Library Quad at Sacramento State.

He told his mom, social science senior Jennifer Lester, that he wanted the blue ball.

“Why don’t you play with the black one until he finishes?” she told him. His attention turned to another activity, but then he realized that one of his best friends arrived. “Hey look who it is Nolan! It’s Slater!” Lester said. “Hey, I found you!” Nolan said to Slater.

Lester gives credit to the Sac State’s children’s center for giving her son the opportunity to build friendships and allowing her a chance to go to school.

“I certainly wouldn’t be able to go to school if it wasn’t for this program,” Lester said.

Sac State’s nationally accredited Children’s Center is student-driven program created in 1971 by Associated Students Inc., offering a variety of services like childcare for ages six months to second grade, parent workshops and opportunities for students such as internships and employment.

Sherry Velte, assistant director of the center, said that the majority of the families they serve are students and the rest are faculty or staff.

Denise Wessels, director of the center, said student fees for childcare is lower than the faculty and staff and the surrounding daycare centers. She said student fees are subsidized based on a sliding scale where families can get lower fees or even paid child care.

“We allow students to use just the time they need for class for a flexible schedule,” Wessels said. “That’s exactly what students need.”

The center employs 80 to 90 students a semester, she said, and is one of the largest employers of students on campus.

The program also allows family and consumer science students to intern in the kitchen, employing child development and psychology students and, helps communication studies students complete assignments, she said. Even graphic design students are assigned to redesign the center’s website, Wessels said.

One of the major student-run projects that is special to the center, Velte said, is the new gazebo that students from the Engineering Honor Society built for the center. The gazebo will be used to conduct outdoor classrooms as well as other activities, Velte said.

“The students donated the materials and their time. We really do rely on the campus and the people here to support us,” Velte said.

Susan Holl, a professor in the engineering department and advisor to the club, said the students have been working hard on the gazebo since last January and are proud of the work they did.”Many of the students came in on weekends because, in the end, they get a kick out of seeing how the product is used,” Holl said.

The center celebrated The Week of the Young Child last week, a nationally celebrated week acknowledging young children and the people involved with the education of young children. The center had its Day in the Quad event on April 25, where it moved the classrooms outside into the quad for campus awareness. The center had classroom activities like science, painting, singing and napping.

Britany Lindgren, a senior communication studies major, has also benefited from the center because she was assigned to the children’s center for her Communications 158 class, pairing students with student-run agencies where they have real clients.

“Without them, I wouldn’t be able to get a real-life experience in the public relations field,” Lindgren said.

Lindgren and her group put together the accreditation ceremony last Thursday to honor the parents and staff who helped the center evolve.

Only 7 percent of children’s centers nationwide are endorsed with the accreditation label by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, she said. To earn accreditation, programs comply with national standards of quality that go beyond state health and safety licensing requirements, Lindgren said.

Wessels and Velte encourage students to seek out the opportunities that the center offers, whether child care, employment or internships.

“Sometimes we feel like the best kept secret over here,” Wessels said.

If you want more information about the Children’s Center, it will have an open house event on Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. for parents, relatives and visitors, or you can visit its website at www.asi.csus.edu/children/index.htm.

Gia Vang can be reached at [email protected]