Children at play across from the Low Rise and High Rise apartments on Williams Street are a common sight for students on their way to and from Broad Street Books. However, when Katie Dibona ’11 began volunteering last fall at the Child Development Center, she found that many students were unaware of the valuable services that the center provides to children in the Middletown area.

For over thirty years, the Community Renewal Team, a Connecticut agency that helps people become self-sufficient, has been running a Head Start program at the Child Development Center for 120 children in the Middletown area, including the North End and Traverse Square.

Head Start, a federally funded program for children aged three to five, prepares low-income children for school by providing comprehensive education, health, nutritional, and social services. Since the program’s creation in the 1960s, preschools across the nation have offered children in underserved communities a “head start” to their education.

“It’s a comprehensive, holistic approach,” said Unit Manager Lisa Ellis. “It’s not just a pre-school, it’s a program for the whole family.”

Although the school is constrained by a small staff and limited funding, it provides an array of services to children and the families to whom they return each evening.

“A lot of the kids have come from pretty hard backgrounds and its nice that they have a place to get attention and to have something teach them,” said Martine Seiden ’11, who volunteers twice a week at the school for the last two years.

For Ellis, the educational philosophy of the preschool—that children learn best through play—provides an interactive and safe space during this crucial stage in child development.

“All through play, even in cleanup time, the children are learning, “ said Ellis. “It’s a really literacy based classroom environment. There are songs and art activities throughout the day.”

Through daily indoor and outdoor activities, the children are exposed to situations and educational influences unavailable at a typical day care center. According to Ellis, by emphasizing basic skills such as identifying colors, learning to glue and cut, and following a routine, the children’s motor, language, social, and self-help skills improve greatly.

“In group time, the children sit down and discuss the daily activities that are happening, review a calendar, talk about the weather,” Ellis said. “We are emphasizing pre-readiness skills.”

The program also provides each child with a healthful breakfast, lunch, and snack—sixty percent of the required daily nutrients for a child their age. According to Ellis, these meals also serve an educational purpose, exposing the children to healthy food options and eating practices.

“Its amazing that there is a program out there that can provide so many health benefits to kids in addition to teaching them a lot,” Dibona said.

While Ellis understands that children depend upon encouragement at school, the influences at home also have an impact on their development. In addition to providing child support during the day, Head Start also functions as a conduit for family services.

“It’s a program for the whole family,” Ellis said. “It’s about meeting the needs of the whole family and really teaching parents, as well.”

Each participating family is paired with one of the Head Start program’s three service workers. Through meetings, home visits, and an open door policy, the assigned social worker and Head Start teachers are available to families for help solving short-term crises or working towards long-term goals.

For example, Ellis described the common situation in which a child is not receiving enough food from home, which negatively affects the child’s learning. The service worker can help the parent sign up for a budgeting class, find greater food resources, or take the necessary steps towards receiving a GED.

Teachers and social workers are also available during moments of crisis, such as support following an incident of domestic violence. Ellis stressed how this continual contact between program and parent helps teachers to better understand the ups and downs of their students.

“Maybe the children witnessed something the night before, and are exhibiting challenging behaviors because they have not had enough sleep,” Ellis said.

Such periodic instability can create a hectic classroom environment, which at first took Sam Cartwright ’11 by surprise.

“I had never worked with kids that age before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Cartwright said, who volunteered there last fall. “My first reaction was that it was super chaotic as everyone was running around, but once I started to understand the schedule and the routine, I saw what I was there to do I started to have a lot of fun.”

Cartwright read stories to the children, helped out with lunch, and facilitated activities. Given the large student to teacher ratio—mandated by Head Start regulations to be ten to one—Cartwright felt that his time was truly valuable.

“I could see the constraints on the teachers, but I have absolute respect for them,” he said. “They have really great relationships with the students.”

During her twenty years at the CRT Head Start program, there have always been volunteers from Wesleyan, but Ellis continues to encourage more.

“We absolutely love volunteers—they are an integral part of the program,” said Ellis. “I felt like you can make a difference here. This is not day care. This is a program that serves the whole family.”

For Dibona, the memorable students are the motivating factor.

“I just really loved the kids,” Dibona said. “I had pictures that they drew me up on my wall last year. It’s a really great program that prepares them for going to elementary school which is good if you cant afford an expensive preschool.”

Seiden, who has been working with the same teacher each year, also reinforced the value of volunteering.

“At that age when you are in a tough situation one person can really make a difference,” Seiden said. “To have a place where they can feel supported and be prepared for kindergarten, that’s really important to lay the foundation for when they are older.”