Students gain hands-on experience through early education program at Prosser

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (WDRB) -- Prosser Career Education Center has a goal for all the students who walk through its halls: to gain hands-on career experience, which is why there's now an Early Childhood Education program.

The program is now in its second year. WDRB got an inside look in May 2024, before it opened. Prosser principal Nancy Campbell said it's been a huge success so far.

"These kids have fun," Campbell said. "It's been a breath of fresh air for our facility to have this."

Here's how the program works: throughout the New Albany/Floyd County school year, Prosser has a daycare open from 6:45 a.m. until 5 p.m. for kids ages 3-4.

At the same time, high schoolers take an early education class next door and get to use what they learn in class in the real world at the daycare.

"We're trying to grow our own in a time where many educators are leaving the field for various reasons," Campbell said. "We still feel like it's very important to enable our students to understand the importance of being an educator and giving back."

It's also an opportunity for southern Indiana parents to have an affordable childcare option. The program costs $150 a week.

"We have been through a couple of different childcare facilities just because I've had two at all ages," said Jenna Orwick, a mother of two who works at Prosser. "This has been the most affordable one that I've attended."

Both of Orwick's children attend the daycare while she's at work, just down the hall. She said they love being taught by the high schoolers, or as they call them "the big kids."

"It's kind of neat to think about one day one of the students here could be a high school teacher for my child in the future," Orwick said.

Campbell said, in her eyes, they get the best of all worlds in building the next generation.

"We're not here to make money," she said. "We're here to be cost neutral, because the goal is to provide that quality care for our littles that come, but also the quality education for our high school students as well."

Campbell tells us they're just a couple kids shy of reaching capacity.

For more information on the program, visit Prosser's website linked here.

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