PROFESSOR & STUDENTS GIVE PRESENTATION AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE

An Iowa Lakes Community College professor and her students were selected to give a presentation at the National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers Annual Conference earlier this month in Charleston, South Carolina.

Marsha Swanson, Early Childhood Education/Child Care Program Professor, was selected to present along with her students, Shayla Thompson and Leslie Wiita. They gave a workshop entitled ‘Break the Silence.’

The presentation covered how to support college students, parents and children who are victims of domestic violence. Strategies to ‘break the silence’ through education, use of community resources and advocacy for children’s safe environments with meaningful activities were discussed.

They shared several community projects which were completed by the college’s Child Care Club students in collaboration with many community partners.

“I was excited to share this workshop presentation opportunity at a national conference with these two outstanding students,” Swanson said. “Because the selection to present was a juried process, the proceedings of the conference will be published.”

“Inclusion in the conference proceedings constitutes representation in a juried publication which is a valuable professional development tool that will support these students’ career goals,” Swanson added. “The idea of presenting on the topic of domestic violence awareness is an extension of the Iowa Lakes Child Care Club’s continued participation in advocacy for healthy relationships and advocacy for children’s safe environments with meaningful activities.”

The National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers (NCCCC) is a nonprofit educational membership organization. Its members support research and activities affecting college and university early childhood education and service settings, family and work issues, and the field of early childhood education in general.