Elizabeth's Home Away From Home
Elizabeth began her journey with Kids Kampus as a preschool student, volunteered as a teenager, and finally, once she graduated, returned to the place where it all began.
“I brought my diploma in and said, ‘I can work here now! I can work here!’ So I’ve just always been around.”
Now a mother herself, Elizabeth sent her daughter, Becca, to preschool at Kids Kampus, until her daughter moved on to kindergarten this year. Those experiences of learning to socialize, make friends, and share prepared Becca for kindergarten.
Elizabeth explains,
“By the time I went to kindergarten, I didn’t have to learn how to make friends, how to share, or how to socialize – I had already had time away from my parents, so I had that independence I probably wouldn’t have had otherwise. I was ready for kindergarten and I feel like my daughter is ready too, because she knows her letters and shapes, and she also has that social piece too. I feel like she can start learning right away. She doesn’t have to learn all that other stuff, especially the social and emotional part of it in the beginning, because she’s already done it.”
As the Assistant Director of the Early Head Start program offered at Kids Kampus, Elizabeth understands how busy parents can be with work and the other demands of life. These demands can make it a challenge to sit down and teach their children the academic skills they need.
“It’s hard to teach socialization and sharing when you’re not actually with twelve other kids in a room.”
The pre-school program allows children to learn these life and academic skills while parents work or take care of other responsibilities.
Elizabeth’s family has also supported Pathfinder Kids Kampus for many years. Her mother, Rebecca Scheiber, is the branch manager of the Huntington PNC Bank. Thanks to Rebecca’s advocacy, PNC Bank has donated hats and gloves, partnered to bring the planetarium tour and a child-friendly introduction to saving to Kids Kampus. Thanks to Rebecca, PNC has also been a significant sponsor of the Pathfinder Kids Kampus Turkey Trot fundraiser for several years.
Elizabeth now gets to help facilitate these learning opportunities offered to the children from local organizations. Since she’s from Huntington, she’s also very familiar with families and children who attend.
“It’s a place that’s really close to my heart, and I’ll probably never leave, which is nice, because I got to grow up in the preschool and then volunteer so it’s always been part of my life.”
After a lifetime at Kids Kampus, Elizabeth has only one wish:
“I am happy families can utilize Kids Kampus because they provide such great, well-rounded programs.”
