When I first entered the Richardson Center for the Child at Francis Marion University I was extremely excited to be working at a state of the art childcare and research facility. I entered the building after passing the beautifully crafted fountain in the center of the parking lot and the line of parked mini vans and sedans that were waiting for parents to return from dropping off their children. The inside is professionally decorated with the daycare center to the right main entrance and the “academic” research portion of the facility to the left. The first person I meet is Gloria, one of the receptionists on the daycare side. She seems to be expecting me and immediately takes me to the four-year-old classroom until my supervisor, Dr. Hester, arrives. The teachers in the four-year-old classroom, Ms. Rachael and Ms. Stacy, were welcoming and friendly when I first arrived, but I have to admit that I think they were a little confused as to why I was in their classroom. Ms. Rachael was definitely more receptive and just wanted me to have fun and play with the kids. Ms. Stacy, however, was a little more curious about who I was, where I came from, and what I was doing in her room – especially when I told her I was studying biomedical engineering. I tried to be as friendly and polite as I could without acting too weird and eventually just started playing with the kids as they continued their normal schedule. There was a fairly diverse group of children in the classroom, but the majority of them were white. I had learned from Dr. Hester that about half of the kids in the four-year-old class were a part of the South Carolina CDEPP (Child Development Education Pilot Program) – a state funded pilot program for at-risk four-year-old children. Their tuition is paid for by the government so that they can receive quality childcare despite their family’s impoverished state. I stereotypically assumed that all of the black children in the class were members of this program, and after spending a week in the classroom and asking a few questions, I think I have confirmed that all of the black children – along with a few others – are indeed a part of CDEPP. I would be very interested to compare the development of the children in CDEPP and those who aren’t to see if there are any disparities concerning their readiness for Kindergarten and any other educational disparities.
Dr. Hester and I had a really great conversation when we first met on Tuesday. He seems really excited to have me at the center and really has a plan for what he wants me to learn and experience while I’m there. We discussed both of our family and educational backgrounds, and we learned that we actually come from fairly similar families. I’ll be working with him and another professor named Dr. Farrah Hughes on their current research project on parental stress among low-income parents. I think I’m really going to get a feel for how social psychology research takes place and also for the extreme difficulties that the “working poor” has to endure.
On Thursday morning I went to Mullins to meet my supervisor at the Troy-Johnson Intergenerational Korner. Ms. Jackie is a very nice lady who is extremely active in her community and does anything and everything she can to help the less fortunate in her community – including keeping her facility open anywhere between 4AM and midnight! I think the people at the Center for the Child and at Troy-Johnson may have expected that I would be white because I was a Duke student. However, Ms. Jackie was the only one who actually stated that she thought her intern would be white! I guess she was surprised when she saw me, but I actually think my race will come in handy at my job in Mullins. The vast majority of the students and staff at Ms. Jackie’s daycare are African American. Perhaps I will be able to connect more with them than those at the Center for the Child. In any case, I think it will be very interesting to compare my experiences at both center over time.
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