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Volume aaa, Number 7 |
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Children's Center director bids adieu
ROSE KENT
STAFF WRITER
The Children's Center will be losing a dedicated and energetic director when Rhode Ann Jones leaves in January. She will be leaving after five years at Bowdoin.
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| The new Children's Center, which will house all of its programs, will open in January. Jones played a large role in facilitating the construction of the building. (Hans Law, Bowdoin Orient) |
Jones came to the college in 1997 with 35 years of experience in early childhood education and administration. Jones graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in early childhood education and went on to teach first grade for 15 years. She has also been the lower school head of private schools in New York City and San Francisco; overseeing virtually all aspects of the lower school programs (from education to finance to administration), which consist of children from age three through the fifth grade.
When asked about the highlights of her career Jones replied, "The joy of this and the joy of everything I've done in education is the children…it's an extremely rewarding field." The children's center takes care of 42 of these children, ages 6 months through 7 years old.
One of Jones's most visible and lasting contributions to Bowdoin will be a brand new building, scheduled to open in January, to house all of the children's center programs. Bill Torrey , president of planning and development, said that Jones has been "absolutely wonderful in getting the building built."
Jones commented that she would love to see more Bowdoin graduates go into the field of education. "We need the best of the best to go into teaching," she explained. Currently students in developmental psychology classes intern at the center. "If you want to learn, this is the place," she added.
"My passion is that learning never stops and should always be a joy," Jones said. She continued by noting that children are always learning, and the joy of teaching comes from "introducing something new and watching the light go on in their eyes."
She hopes to find a job that demands fewer than the 50 to 60 hours she currently works, so that she can spend time with her five grandsons. However, she emphasized that children will be part of the new job endeavor, whatever it may be.
Torrey will be in charge of finding a replacement for Jones. He will be looking another individual "with impeccable communication skills, supervisory experience and a love and enthusiasm for children and their families," much like Jones. A search committee will be announced in the coming weeks and an ad will be placed both locally and nationally.