Shovels up: CSN breaks ground on new ECE Center

CSN broke ground on its new Early Childhood Education Center at the Charleston campus on Monday, and the celebration was every bit as warm as the program it will house.

Tents went up, branded shovels were lined up and hard hats were laid out as faculty, staff and local families gathered to mark the start of construction. The new building will be the permanent home for CSN’s Early Childhood Education Lab, a program that has cared for young children and trained future educators for more than 40 years.

Vice President of External Relations and Campus Operations, Clarissa Cota emceed the morning, with remarks from CSN President Dr. Stacy Klippenstein, Rochelle Hooks Chair of the School of Education, Behavioral and Social Sciences, and Aja Leija, chief of staff and operations at Campus for Hope. The new center is being funded through CSN’s partnership with Campus for Hope, the nonprofit building a facility next door for people experiencing homelessness. After a temporary move to the North Las Vegas campus, the lab is officially on its way back home to Charleston.

Leija pointed to the spirit behind the collaboration, saying the partnership connects students with “the intervention that only we can provide in this area.”

The smallest guests nearly stole the show. A group of kids got their own plastic shovels and jumped right into the photo op, digging alongside the grown-ups. What they did not know was that the dirt had a surprise waiting. Rubber ducks had been tucked just below the surface to keep little shovels moving, and the hunt was on. Their reaction was exactly what everyone hoped for.

Beneath the fun, the morning carried real weight. The lab gives families a trusted, accredited place for their youngest children while giving CSN students their first hands-on classroom experience before they ever lead a room of their own. It is early childhood education and educator training under one roof, and soon that roof will be brand new.

For everyone who showed up, dug in or simply cheered, Monday was a happy, duck-filled start to a building that will carry that work forward for years to come.