It is with great enthusiasm that I welcome you to the Children's Enrichment Center website. Let me take a few moments to tell you about myself and how the center came to be.
I began my teaching career in the Pittsburgh Public School District in August of 1992. Both my mother and father are veteran teachers, having spent 33 and 37 years within the city of Pittsburgh. As I prepared to graduate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, my parents recommended that I begin my teaching career within the city schools. They believed that if I could succeed there, I would succeed anywhere! I spent two years working in a challenging, yet fulfilling teaching environment. However it was the countryside of Harmony that called me home. I am a product of the Seneca Valley School District and had a strong desire to raise my own children in the community in which I myself grew up.
As a Family and Consumer Science teacher with the Seneca Valley School District I have spent the last nine years of my career opening doors of opportunity for my students. I have been implementing progressive courses to help prepare our young adults to be involved and responsible citizens, to function successfully in the world of work and prepare to be a part of the 21 century family.
During this time, I also became the mother of two children, Emily and Jason. Never in my life did I experience such unconditional love! This joy, however, was contrasted by a heavy feeling in my heart, as I knew I would return to work. Each day of my maternity leave I dreaded the moment I would say good-bye and leave them in the care of another. Even to this day, though my children are no longer babies, I am always conscious of the choices I have made to balance work and family. I also watch as my friends and colleagues experience the rawness of this despair and the anguish on their faces, as they, too, are faced with this delicate balancing act.
From this vantage point, I knew there had to be a better solution. The idea of a staff child care program grew from my own experiences with locating affordable, accessible, and adequate day care and pre-school service. I realized after much research into local child care agencies that our community not only needed more options, but deserved more.
From this point on, my desire to intertwine work, family, and community became my primary focus. It is this passion that has led to the Children's Enrichment Center.
I invite you to take the time to explore the realm of possibilities for you and your child. We are, after all, building our community one child at a time.
Susan L. Skamla
Owner/Executive Director