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Children’s Learning Center celebrates 40 years

Miniature super heroes, fairies and pirates paraded around the courtyard of the Children’s Learning Center Friday as the center celebrated its 40th anniversary with a costume parade and festival for the children.

“It’s extremely exciting to know that we still have a place here on campus, and that families still have a need for accessible, available and affordable child care,” CLC Director Jennifer Skopal said. “We support student success, and we carry that out knowing that is our mission and why we were founded.”

The CLC, formerly known as the UH Child Care Center, has been a campus service for students and faculty since 1975, and was founded by students who noticed a prevalent need for affordable child care.

Today, the center has expanded to two locations at the university, which now serve 221 children.

For UH law student Douglas Evans, the CLC has provided an opportunity for him to focus on classes while his son, Oliver, is given quality child care.

“It’s been nice to be able to have somewhere that he can go while I can make all my classes and study during the day,” Evans said. “It’s a really great option.”

During the event, parents lined up to watch the kids traipse by in their Halloween costumes, clapping and cheering while the CLC leaders led them around the center.

Communications senior Deyontrius Stevenson said her two children, Paris and Chance, have been coming to the CLC since she became a student at UH.

According to Stevenson, the CLC offers a tuition aid for student parents, which makes the center one of the most valuable assets to the University.

“Without that, I wouldn’t be able to even afford (quality) day care,” Stevenson said. “The (center) really takes the time to focus on and love the kids…that’s a big deal.”

For the center, 40 years is an anniversary that marks the success of students at UH who may not have been able to attend school if quality child care was not available.

“Once you see what a welcoming community we have and the great things we do for children, I think you’ll be hooked,” Skopal said.

“It’ll be a program that you would also advocate for.”

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