By Maegan Hewey Contributing Writer
The Early Childhood Club aims to be more well known by their continued participation around UMF and the local community.
The ECC has changed their name this year, in hopes of gaining more interest in the club. “This year we have rebranded ourselves with our new name, the Early Childhood Club! We were previously UMF Association for the Education of Young Children (AEYC), but are using our name change as an opportunity to make campus more aware of us and what we do,” said Hope.
Carson Hope, the president of the Early Childhood Club, takes pride in this group and what they have come to be. A main goal for this club is involvement in the community and they do as much as they can to achieve that. “We volunteer at community events geared towards young children and their families, volunteer our time with teachers and early childhood organizations, and promote events for the early childhood community,” said Hope.
Facing large groups of people, and not knowing what to expect, is not an issue with the members of ECC. “The main purpose of this club is to create opportunities for like-minded students, creating awareness of the importance of the quality of early childhood education,” said Hope. “[We] provide opportunities for professional development, and to work as a club in collaboration with others to benefit children and their families in the Farmington community.”
The volunteer opportunities are very useful for the learning educators. Being able to get active and help others allows them to get a better feel for being a teacher. In the education field the main focus is the child, but there are other aspects involved in the profession as well.
“Some things that we have done in the past include parent nights out, professional development sessions, guest speakers, and children’s author events,” said Hope. Teaching future educators to help not only the children, but also the parents and other teachers is a huge responsibility.
Along with their new name, ECC is preparing for new events. The club will be involved in a playground project for the Pre-K program at Mallett Elementary School on October 20th and will participate in the annual Maine AEYC conference at Bowdoin College on October 27th.
Being able to work more and learn about the aspects of early childhood is an opportunity that comes with the fun of a club. The only thing that Price would like to see change is the level of involvement in the club. “We would really like to see more people at meetings and events,” said Price.
The ECC holds club meetings on Wednesday’s in the Education Center, room 106 at 6:00pm. The meetings and club are open to anyone who is interested. contact the For more information students can contact President Carson Hope at carson.hope@maine.edu.