Childhood ed building in progress at Co-Lin

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

WESSON, Miss. (AP) — Copiah-Lincoln Community College has cleared off land at its Wesson campus for construction of an Early Childhood Education Technology Building.

The junior college torn down a vacant faculty housing unit to free up the land for the new construction.

The Co-Lin Board of Trustees is receiving bids for the project. The estimated cost is around $2 million.

The Early Childhood Education Technology program has been at the college since 1978. It is currently housed in two locations: the R.E. Anderson building and a temporary trailer.

"This new facility provides the program with a state-of-the-art instructional space which brings the program and services under one roof," Jane Hulon, vice president of instructional services, told The Daily Leader (http://bit.ly/1hR8hTc ).

"This will increase efficiency, safety and convenience for Co-Lin students, program employees and lab school children and their parents. Relocating this program to a new facility will free up much-needed space for future growth of existing programs, Hulon said.

The 8,046-square-foot building on the perimeter of the campus will have classrooms, a computer lab, two faculty offices, a student workroom, a faculty workroom, a small kitchen, a designated dining/activity space and two outdoor playgrounds.

There will be child care lab rooms with observation windows for infants, one-year-olds, two-year-olds and other pre-school children of Co-Lin employees and students.

"The program has always been popular; however, the demand for its graduates has increased due to the recent changes in requirements for Head Start employees and teacher assistants," Hulon said.

On average, there are 56 students enrolled in the technical program each year.

After graduation, students receive an associate degree and can continue their education at Jackson State University to complete a bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Development or begin careers in a variety of child care fields, Hulon said.

___

Information from: The Daily Leader, http://www.dailyleader.com