Layoff Opens Door for New Career in Child Care Management

CONTACT: LISA GARRETT, EXT. 2315

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/9/2000
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- An unexpected layoff after more than 26 years in personnel administration at a local industry opened the door for a new career in child care management for Edna M. Willis.

"I thought I would work at Ryobi until the day I retired," said Mrs. Willis, of Anderson. "I could have been devastated," she recalled, "but chose to rely on a positive attitude and my faith in God. I knew I had to move on."

Initially, she thought she would spend her days caring for her grandchildren while her daughter was attending college. At one of her weekly visits to the Employment Security Commission office, she was told about Tri-County Technical College's EDWAA program for dislocated workers. Classes would begin in several weeks so Mrs. Willis went that night and took the entrance exam. Within weeks she found herself enrolled in the Early Childhood Development curriculum and embarked on a second career.

"That night I went to Tech to take the entrance exam, I asked myself what I was doing there with all of those young people," she remembers. Mrs. Willis, who holds a degree from Forrest College, passed the test and signed on for 12 credit hours.

"Around the same time, my pastor had the vision to open a child care center at Welfare Baptist Church, and he asked me to serve as director. My first answer was no because of my inexperience but I prayed about it and decided to try it. I knew I needed guidance, so I chose early childhood development as my major at Tri-County. I didn't know how I was going to do all of this, but I was determined. I was apprehensive at first, but now I love it."

This Monday (May 15) she will be the College's first to graduate with a certificate in child care management. She will also receive a diploma in early childhood development, and last June she received her certificate in that major.

"I knew I needed to know the functions of a child care center, how to relate to the children, and the administrative functions of the director. To accomplish this, I needed to further my education, so I said this is my chance and I enrolled at Tri-County," she said. "A Christian center is the type of environment I want to work in," she added.

Now she's director and teacher at the Church's Center. "The classes have helped me tremendously with management and how to observe the total center's environment, including safety, atmosphere, materials for the children to work and play with, and how to relate to parents," she added.

"The classes have really prepared me for my job as director," she said. "First-hand lab observations at the various centers have been very beneficial. It helps me to be more proficient in my job."

"Edna has been determined to learn all that she could to be the very best early child care and education professional she can be," said Betty Keys, who leads Tri-County's Early Childhood Development department. "She will have as large an impact on the children, families and participants at the Church's Center as she has had on our program."

"Without my Tech education, I wouldn't be here," said Mrs. Willis. "I knew I could do the administrative work, but I didn't have the educational background to do the work as a teacher. My degree will help me daily not only at the Center but also at church and with my grandchildren. My whole life has changed."

Mrs. Willis says she plans to return for her associate degree in the future.
-30-