About the Program
Diane Wolter, department chair and instructor, introduces the program. "At the College of Lake County we have several different certificate and degree programs that students can enroll in, to enter a career in early childhood education or go down a pathway to a four-year degree in early childhood education and an Illinois teaching certificate. There are a wide variety of career options in early childhood: working in public and private institutions, teaching preschool, full and half day childcare programs or with an agency such as Head Start."
Nagwan Refat, early childhood education student explains why she likes CLC's program. "The program is very awesome, very convenient and very easy to follow. You have a lot of counselors on campus."
Celeste Fields, early childhood education student, shares her likes about the college and the program. "The college is really easy to get to, it's accessible and it's very flexible if you are working and with your school schedule. The kids here are great. If you are looking to do early childhood this is the place to be because you are going to have cute kids to work with."
Instructors and Learning
Diane Wolter, highlights the instructors. "One of the strengths of our program is the quality of our teaching staff. They come to us with a lot of experience in the field."
Nagwan Refat describes the helpful instructors. "You have a lot of helpers around you. The instructors, all of them, are very willing to help. The teachers here in the CLC daycare center are very willing to help me through my child portfolio."
Diane Wolter describes the academic foundation and the hands-on learning. "I think the strength of our program is that we give students a good foundation of early childhood theory and basic principles of child growth and development. This also connects to what they are learning in their activity based courses. They can read something and they can hear us say something, but they actually need to try it, in a hands-on, experiential way."
Making a Difference
Diane Wolter gives her final thoughts on the program. "Students coming out of our program with a two-year degree in early childhood are qualified through state requirements to be a lead teacher in a preschool or childcare program. The job openings in early childhood right now are really expanding. We know what they need overall to go out and to be effective teachers but we want to know what each individual student needs as well to be effective, to be excited and to really make a difference for kids."
To learn more, visit the Early Childhood Web site.
