Children celebrate ground breaking for new center

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Children's Center was held June 16 with the students from the Child Care Center and Demonstration Preschool, and members of the campus community as they planted their oversized shovels in a representative sandbox. The new Children's Center, expected to open in September 2005, will serve approximately 500 children a year in a 21,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility. The Center will be a model for inclusive early childhood education where children with disabilities learn, play and grow alongside their same-age peers, and provide a social and learning environment where they can explore, create and experience learning as members of a diverse community. Pictured from top, clockwise: students from the Child Care Center sing construction songs; a student dons an official MSU hard hat; joining the children at the sandbox are, from left, Toni Spiotta, director of the Psychoeducational Center; Patty Wolters, COTA; Robert Iamello, principal, Tomaino, Tomaino, Iamello & Associates; Ada Beth Cutler, dean of the College of Education and Human Service; President Susan A. Cole; and Janey DeLuca, director of the Child Care Center.