CSM Learning Center Turns 10

The Hamiltons chose the College of Southern Maryland’s learning center as their day care provider when their oldest daughter was an infant and the center opened 10 years ago. Through the years they have continued to keep their two daughters at the center. From left are Page, Michele, Barry, and Claire Hamilton.

The College of Southern Maryland‘s St. Charles Learning Center is celebrating its 10th year of operation.

The center was established to provide CSM students, faculty, and staff, as well as community members, quality child-centered care. The center enhances the lives of children, their families, and the greater Southern Maryland community.

Finding the right caretaker for a newborn child can be an anxious decision for new parents, but once identified, that caretaker can become a valuable part of the family for years to come. Such is the case for Barry and Michele Hamilton when they set out to choose day care for their infant daughter once Michele Hamilton returned to her job at the US Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, MD.

“It’s always hard when you are going to leave your first child,” Michele Hamilton said. “I remember when Claire was 10 weeks old and I was in tears leaving the center, but you have to have that trust with someone to make that break.”

For the Hamiltons, that someone was the St. Charles Children’s Learning Center. Just about the same time as Claire was born, the CLC opened, and when the Hamiltons chose the center as their day care provider, so began a relationship that has spanned 10 years and two daughters, from infant care through today with both children now enrolled in after-school care.

What stands out for the Hamiltons is the high quality of care and education that both of their daughters have received while enrolled at the CLC.

“The biggest praise we received when Claire and then Page started kindergarten at their current school was how both of them were above and beyond in being prepared for school,” Barry Hamilton said.

“We were really happy to hear that the CLC was doing a really good job getting the kids up to the level they were supposed to be and above that,” Michele Hamilton said, crediting the learning and nurturing they received while at CLC.

For the Hamiltons, their involvement at the CLC has become somewhat of a family affair. Both of their parents have enjoyed the experiences that granddaughters Claire and Page have had at the CLC over the years, from parades to pageants to graduation.

The center, which opened in 2006 with 20 students ages 8 weeks to 4 years old, now offers care for more than a hundred students from ages 8 weeks to 12 years old.

“Our center would not be here without the more than 100 generous supporters, especially the St. Charles Companies, who helped raise the money through the CSM Foundation to build our center at CSM,” CSM Vice President of Advancement Michelle Goodwin said.

The CLC has earned a Maryland EXCELS Level 3 rating by the Maryland State Department of Education and is in the accreditation process.

For information on the St. Charles Children’s Learning Center, click here.

For more information about the College of Southern Maryland, visit their Leader member page.