It’s not every day that early childhood educators in North Central Florida receive a call like the one made by Deidra Boodoo in April. Boodoo, an assistant professor of Early Childhood Education (ECE) at Rasmussen College – Ocala, had some exciting news to share. With Week of the Young Child™ approaching—an annual event that celebrates early learning for young children, their teachers and families—the Rasmussen College Ocala campus found itself with five new laptops leftover from a recent commercial shoot. Boodoo knew exactly what to do with them.
“Week of the Young Child is a special week for us. We typically donate a book to three or four local early childhood centers as a ‘thank you’ for the impact they make on the youngest learners in our community—but this year, we had an extra special gift—a new laptop to be used however they wanted,” says Boodoo.
When Boodoo called the centers’ directors to share the news, they were surprised, thankful and excited to tell her how they planned to use the laptops.
“They told me they planned to give the laptop to their pre-kindergarten teachers to use in the classroom to help children develop various technology skills,” Boodoo says.
Nana’s Infants & Children Learning Center in Ocala was one of the local centers to receive a laptop. Its center director had this to say about the donation: “Thank you for expanding our young minds to a whole new world of learning through technology,” says Janice M. Hamilton-Merritt.
Rasmussen College also donated laptops to All Stars Learning Center, Kinderoo Children’s Academy and Future Stars Preschool Academy, all located in Ocala. Additionally, the College was excited to donate a fifth laptop to an orphan school in Guatemala.
“When speaking with faculty at the Ocala campus about the laptops, one of our Nursing instructors mentioned she worked with an orphanage in Guatemala that could really use one,” says Boodoo. “I had a chance to talk to the director of the school down there who told me this is their first computer, ever. She was over-the-moon excited and extremely thankful.”
Rasmussen College has a long history of giving back to the communities it serves, but for Boodoo, these laptop donations were special, as she knew they would directly impact and support ECE teachers and children—a field she is extremely passionate about.
“I’ve worked with these centers for many years as Rasmussen College partners with them on externships for our ECE students, so it felt really good to be able to give back to them knowing they are in need of these types of resources.”
To learn more about the Rasmussen College Early Childhood Education program, click here.
