The Grand Valley State University Children’s Enrichment Center is preparing for the Month of the Young Child, which began yesterday and runs through the end of April.

The CEC has events going on throughout the month to explore topics like sexual assault and bullying. On April 19, the CEC will host “Walking the Talk,” which will raise awareness of student parents in addition to fundraising for their scholarship endowment fund, which benefits GVSU students with children. The center is also putting on an MOYC Art Show and Reception on April 18.

Currently, the center has 41 families enrolled, with around 35 children filling the center’s three classrooms
on a daily basis. According to a recent GVSU study, almost 500 students identified themselves as a student parent, but only 16 student families are presently enrolled. Arnold said that many student parents do not utilize the CEC because
the center is limited in the number of students they can serve in their current building. She hopes to expand once the center gets the resources and funding it needs.

“It’s nice to have somewhere I know my son is safe,” said GVSU senior Jeannette Bunda, a student parent who uses the CEC. “If there is ever an emergency, I am less than five minutes away and I know that he is in a learning environment.”

Bunda said she appreciates having the CEC on campus because it helps herbalance schoolwork and taking care of her son.

“Being a parent puts a different level of responsibility that most students don’t have,” she said.

Student parents not only have to create time for their children, they also face additional financial strains with an extra mouth to feed.

“They have a third element to balance,” said Sharalle Arnold, director of the CEC. “They’re trying to take care of their child and their family, they’re trying to balance their education and they’re trying to balance work, all in an effort to complete their post-secondary degree. It’s quite challenging to balance all those things when you have limited support systems.”

On a day-to-day basis, the center provides children with early care and education and aims to prepare the children for school and life success, Arnold said. The center takes care of children ages 2 ½ to 5 years old and provides before and after school care.

“We enrich the lives of Grand Valley’s youngest students,” Arnold said.

Arnold said her work, and that of other CEC employees, is important not only because of the impact they have on the children enrolled, but also because of the opportunities that their presence creates for the children’s parents.

“I am walking as a demonstration of my leadership and my advocacy,” said Sharalle Arnold, director of the Children’s
Enrichment Center. “As a leader, I believe it is important to not only talk about what I’m passionate about, but to actually put some intention and action behind it, and I think this is a very significant way to demonstrate my care and genuine concern about this issue.”

It is difficult for many student parents to feel involved on campus because organizations have meetings at night that student parents cannot attend. If organizations got together earlier, it would be easier to get involved, Bunda said.

“We have to be very intentional in asking our non-traditional students how best to support them,” Arnold said. “We can’t assume what they need.”

Being a full-time student and full-time parent, Bunda said it is hard because she doesn’t get to spend as much time with her son as she would like because she is doing homework. On the other hand, she said her son motivates her to complete her degree.

“I know I have to finish school for him,” she said.

[email protected]