Karla Sorto
The new Child Development Club met Thursday afternoon to discuss the Pathways in Early Childhood Education (PECE) program, as well as to participate in a resume workshop given by Stacey Longmore, Pierce College Child Development professor.Ninety members make up the Child Development Club. Lila Snow, instructor of psychology and child development, sees the club as a networking opportunity to find work in the field of child development.”The Child Development Club has been around at Pierce College, but hasn’t been active,” said PECE Specialist Barbara Rosner. “This is the first time that we are trying to make it into a real club.”Rosner believes that the CD Club will be a good way to guide new child-development students onto the right path for their major.”The resume workshops are very important for the students,” Longmore said. “First impressions are lasting; a resume is a snapshot of everything you have done throughout your life.” During their last meeting for the spring semester, Longmore gave a PowerPoint presentation explaining key points to getting hired by the quality of the resume produced. They also discussed the PECE program. “The PECE is a very positive program that helps us CD majors,” said 42-year-old Socorro Liera. First 5 California, an organization that focuses on educational development, has funded the PECE program, which is a grant appointed to child development students who meet the requirements. It provides students with the benefit of reimbursing their expenses for classes and books. In order to be eligible for the PECE program, students must be child development majors with a GPA of at least 2.0 and must complete 10 hours of community service.”We don’t know if we will be able to have the PECE program for next year,” Rosner said. “First 5 California is cutting funds up to 50 percent.”The CD Club is searching for other ways to fund the PECE program.”So far, it’s going real well,” Longmore said. “Students are excited about it. They want to find ways to be able to keep the PECE program.”After the resume workshop and PECE discussion, Longmore and Snow conducted practice interviews with some students. Four faculty members interviewed students one-on-one while the rest of the students were able to take notes and observe the interviews.”With the interviews, I can see what they would ask in a real interview,” said Michael Hidalgo, 20, child development major. “This is preparing and helping me to be ahead of the game.”Longmore and Snow made sure to advise students about skills they need to get the positions they desire.”I found that the practice interviews were very helpful to the students,” Longmore said. “Based on the questions they asked, they helped me understand how I can provide them the aid they need.”April Warren-Ewald, 27, child development student, is not a member of the club, but needed the resume workshop.”Wow, this workshop was so helpful,” she said. “I can go back to the resume that I was working on and add the useful tips that they gave me.”Longmore described the CD club as a way to support each other academically and financially by supplying books that are unaffordable, and supporting not only Pierce, but also the community with immediate fundraising assistance.”We like to create a special community inside this club,” Longmore said. “We celebrate our students and make them feel as if they have a second family here at Pierce.”The CD Club will be having a party for CD students who will be graduating in June.Everyone is welcome to join the club, which will return in the fall semester. A schedule of the meetings will be available on the Pierce Web site.”I’m very exited and ready to expand it in the upcoming year,” said 19-year-old Brittany Wilson, CD Club vice president.