Colorado

Woman Inspires Generation of Day Care
By Amanda Lingerfelt,
Rocky Mount Telegram
Sunday, September 25, 2005

Marilyn Boone rarely goes to an area elementary school or day care center where she doesn't know at least one of the teachers.

That's because the 61-year-old Northern Nash High School teacher has helped many students realize their interest in child care through a day care program she started at the high school in 1983.

"It makes me feel good to go to an elementary school or a day care center," Boone said. "I rarely go in one that I don't have one of my former students working there."

Boone is the director of The Children's Center day care for 3- to 5-year-olds, located on the high school's campus. Students can intern at the center during their junior and senior years as part of the early childhood program. After two years in the program, students can receive certification that allows them to be a lead teacher at a day care center.

The idea for the center came to Boone because she had to travel long distances to take students to nearby day care centers, she said.

"Back at that time, they didn't have any centers around this way," she said. "It was taking so much travel time."

So Boone suggested that a day care center be built next to the high school, and the school board approved. The center started out with $5,000 and a double-wide trailer provided by Nash-Rocky Mount Schools.

But in 1992, Boone arrived at the center only to find it had been burned down by arsonists the night before.

"There were just ashes," she said. "It was terrible. I had 15 little children, and I didn't know what we were going to do about it."

For the next year, the center operated out of a double-wide trailer that was Boone's former classroom for high school students, while the school board worked on a permanent building for the day care center.

Now, the center has a five-star rating and has the revenue to support a full-time employee, a part-time employee and food and supplies for the children. The school board pays for the building, utilities and support services.

Boone said the center is important because it helps students realize their interests in working with children.

"A lot of times students romanticize working with children," Boone said. "They think its cute; all they do is play. When they really get into it, it gives them an idea if they would be good at it later on. That's a wonderful thing — to find that out in high school, rather than pay for four years of college and then find out that you don't like it."

And Boone sees the success of the center every day — two of her former students work with her at the center.

"It made me realize how much I love children," said Jennifer Aycock, a Northern Nash High School teacher and assistant director of the center. "That class opened it up for me, and allowed me to come back."

Aycock graduated from Northern Nash in 1994, along with B.J. Lewis, who is now the lead teacher at the center.

"Mrs. Boone trained me very well," Lewis said. "I loved it so much that as soon as I got out of high school, I went to community college and started taking courses and working in child care. That's what I've done since I've graduated."

Had it not been for her experiences as a high school intern at the center, Lewis said she may not have ended up in child care.

"I just knew that I liked children," she said. "I love children, but it wasn't what I thought I would do after school. I can't remember now what I had planned on doing. Once I got involved in this program, it was clear to me that that's what I wanted to do."

After 40 years of teaching, Boone said working with students and children at the day care is clearly what she loves to do, too. Boone officially retired in 2000, but continues to teach interior design and early childhood education classes, in addition to her duties at the center.

"I do all of the paperwork — the licensing, the inspections, the food program, those kinds of things," she said. "Even though I have to spend a lot of extra time doing it, I always thought it was worth it. It's such a good program."

Despite her busy schedule, Boone said she plans to keep working at the school and the center for as long as she can. Even after 40 years as a teacher, and more than 20 as a day care director, she still gets choked up when she talks about the center.

"I just love children," she said, wiping away a tear from her eye. "They like to come up and tap on my window, or go 'Mrs. Boone, I like your shirt today.'

The day care center is probably the most important. It's good to be a part of it."