The Child Development Center located at Glendale Community College offers a unique program that benefits students, staff, and the local community. Mary Jane Biancheri, one of the Child Development teachers, also places Child Development students at the CDC for supervised fieldwork. 

Biancheri shared that “the Child Development Center acts as a laboratory school for GCC students in both the Child Development/Education Department and the Nursing Department.” The students observe and do supervised work with children, gaining experience and the required hours for both programs. The children attending the lab school are from the community. They include the children of GCC employees, and past and present students, as well as children from the local community. 

Biancheri said that this “helps students as a lab where students can meet the requirements for their education if they are interested in the fields of child development, nursing, or psychology.” Students may also apply to be student workers at the lab school, where they can have the opportunity to work with children and a teaching team of highly qualified early childhood educators.

One of the unique features of this program is that there are no specific qualifications required to apply. The CDC is open to anyone from the community, GCC employees, and past and present students. However, GCC employees and students are given preference. The CDC also works with Head Start to provide assistance programs for low-income students. Families who qualify for and enroll in Head Start are eligible for a specific number of spaces at the CDC. 

The Child Development Center is open year-round from 7:30 to 5:30 pm, if you are interested, stop by and take a tour of the lab school and find out how to apply. 

For additional information please visit  GCC Child Development Center. 

Brenda Gonzalez can be reached at [email protected].