PSU Magazine Summer 1987

' • • Helen Gordon Center gives children a daytime home at PSU A couple of times a year, a string of small children snakes its way through the adult world of the PSU campus. In the autumn they are disguised as goblins and witches; in the spring they are draped with sand– wich boards bearing crayon ads for an art and bake sale. After such brief and always crowd– pleasing appearances, they wander back to their own little world in a three-story brick building on the northwest corner of the campus. These ambassadors from the Helen Gordon Child Development Center are a periodic reminder that the Uni– versity is taking care of not only its students, faculty and staff, but also their children. As Portland State's laboratory pre– school and day care program, the Article and photographs by Cynthia D. Stowell Helen Gordon Child Development Center has been quietly offering an important service to PSU and com– munity parents and a valuable educa– tional experience for PSU students since 1972. The past year has been a big one for the center. Last fall, it became the first all-day early childhood program in Oregon to be accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. And this spring, the 60-year– old building that houses the Helen Gordon Center was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been a time of nostalgia and anticipation for Helen Gordon staff and parents, a time to consider how far the center has come and where it needs to go. PSU MAGAZINE PAGE 7 With a waiting list of 250 families, the center has clearly become a popular child care alternative but one that cannot expand in its present facility. Currently, 95 children between the ages of two and five are enrolled fulltime during the academic year, the maximum allowed by fire and safety regulations and a comfortable number in terms of quality care and pro– gramming, according to center director Margaret Browning. And quality is the center's byword, not growth. "We're really committed to quality and don't want to grow just to meet the demand," said Browning, noting that the demand shows no sign of decreasing. "Given the statistics that are out about the future of working families