Portland State Magazine Fall 2021

40 // PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FLOWER PROJECTS. Tricycle races. Streetcar expeditions to down- town fountains. Singalongs. Dance parties. Homemade gingerbread and applesauce. Helen Gordon Child Development Center families carry a host of favorite memories from their time at Portland State’s flagship child care center. What stands out for me is the one-way mirror and box of tissues a teacher led me to when I dropped off my toddler for the first time. At the mirror, teary parents huddled together to watch our tiny people explore the new world of the classroom without us. And then we left for our jobs and classes, knowing everything would be OK. There are few experiences more agonizing for parents than leaving a small child in someone else’s care. It was hard for me as a working parent, but for parents trying to get an edu- cation, finding and paying for care can make staying in school tough. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, student parents are 10 times less likely to complete their bachelor’s degree within five years than students without kids. In 1969 and 1970, Portland State student mothers decided to make a difference, staging “Baby-Ins” in the president’s office and residence to advocate for affordable on-campus child care. Because of their efforts, the first center opened 50 years ago in the Smith Memorial Student Union basement with a few dozen kids. It struggled for space until 1972, when Portland State bought the brick building at 1609 Southwest 12th Avenue from private child care organization Fruit and Flower. Built specifically for children, it came with a kitchen and kid-sized spaces. Within a year, it was renamed for the influential child care advocate who helped shape the center’s development. “There were growing pains in the early years as the new program met challenges in staffing, space and funding,” says former director Ellie Justice. A turning point came when the National Association for the Education of Young Children developed a voluntary accreditation system. With leadership from director Margaret Browning, in 1986 Helen Gordon became the first accredited program in Oregon. Now the center serves roughly 200 children from 6 months to 5 years old and is nationally recognized as an academic hub, too. In a typical year, 80 undergraduate and graduate students assist in the classroom.They lead games of tag, help plan activities, relieve teachers for breaks, and carry out dissertation projects with groups of kids. Not all will become teachers, says current director Mary Schumacher-Hoerner, but “They walk away with a view of children that’s so special—that children are capable and competent.” Fifty years after it all began, Helen Gordon’s prime directive—to support students with young children—remains unchanged.The center is student-fee funded and reserves two-thirds of its spots for student parents. But some of the center’s magic happens because of the way it connects families from across campus, like it did for the group I stood with on that memorable first day of school. Universities can feel like hierarchical places, Schumacher-Hoerner says, with faculty, staff and students occupying separate spaces. “Whether you’re a student or a professor or a staff member, you’re going through similar discoveries when you have young children,” she says.The Helen Gordon experience is “a great equalizer.They’re learn- ing about how to be parents together.” —SCHOLLE McFARLAND looking back 50 YEARS OF CAMPUS KIDS “[Students] walk away with a view of children that ’s so special—that children are capable and competent.” ABOVE: Teacher Patricia Crippen leads children down the Helen Gordon Child Development Center steps in 1987. LEFT: Teacher Soobin Oh ’10 MS ’16 sings with preschoolers (including the author’s daughter Kate, at left) in 2013. CYNTHIA D. STOWELL KELLY JAMES