Principal Ann Flynt stands amid the new preschool playground outside the DeJoy Primary Education Center, which will house a new pre-kindergarten program as well as kindergarten and first-grade students at St. Pius X School in Greensboro. The center has been uniquely designed from the ground up to meet the needs of younger students. (Photos by Georgianna Penn | Catholic News Herald)GREENSBORO — Aug. 22 will be a particularly special day at St. Pius X School, when the doors of its state-of-the-art DeJoy Primary Education Center will open wide to welcome students. The DeJoy Primary Education Center will house a new pre-kindergarten program, as well as kindergarten and first grade.
A quality pre-kindergarten program is increasingly in demand in the Greensboro community, and new Principal Ann Flynt notes that enrollment at the DeJoy Primary Education Center is filling up quickly – with enrollment at 80 percent of the center’s 154-student capacity.
“There are lots of benefits to pre-K,” Flynt says. “You start the educational process at the very beginning, so the ability to provide that Catholic education – the spiritual learning as well as the academic learning from the earliest time on – is fabulous.
“It also allows for families to bring their kids here, all in one place, so they’re not having to drive across town to go to another school. That’s really a benefit.”
After a year of construction, the 22,885-square-foot building is nearly ready to house two pre-K classrooms, as well as two kindergarten classrooms and two first-grade classrooms. There is also a separate pre-K and kindergarten playground at the center, which is named for Louis DeJoy and his wife, Dr. Aldona Wos, among the most generous benefactors on the project.
The $3.6 million center is part of the parish’s three-year “Making a Place to Gather and Grow” campaign and was combined under the auspices of the Diocese of Charlotte’s “Forward in Faith, Hope, and Love” campaign. St. Pius X parishioners have raised more than $6.2 million of the $8.6 million campaign, which is also funding a new 23,477-square-foot Parish Life Center for the growing parish of more than 1,800 registered families.
The DeJoy Primary Education Center has been uniquely designed from the ground up to meet students’ needs, Flynt notes.
“The space is dedicated for younger students,” she says. Everything is designed for the littlest children and “the space is meant for their size,” she says, from dual staircase railings to water fountains and sinks, furniture, smart boards that are low to the floor, restrooms, cubby spaces and hallway benches.
It has space for small-group instruction, a large assembly room, collaboration space between classrooms, a dedicated playground, acoustical panels in the hallways to buffer noise, large floor-to-ceiling windows that allow in generous amounts of natural light, along with other features to support a constructive and natural learning environment.
“A unique and positive part about the design is it’s so open,” adds building committee chairman Tom Martin. “The classrooms are bright and spacious, the hallways provide plenty of room for movement, and there’s a wide monumental staircase that adds a lot of interest to the building.”
Even the furniture at the DeJoy Primary Education Center has special features to ensure a comfortable learning environment. There are “ergonomically designed chairs throughout the whole school building,” Flynt says. These ergonomic chairs can rock and are great for active students, who can focus more attentively while still wanting to move when seated. Each classroom also has Hokki stools, which feature rollers underneath to allow for slight movement while seated. “You can sit for a longer period of time and it helps with attention span,” Flynt explains.
“Just from a teacher’s standpoint, I love the space that we’re going to have,” says kindergarten teacher Janet Logan, who has worked at St. Pius X School for 16 years. “I do a lot of small group learning,” she says, and the new space provides for a non-traditional style of learning where she can set up more personalized seating arrangements.
Preschool teacher Amy Weckworth says, “What I find most fascinating is starting out a brand new program incorporating all the different, developmentally appropriate practices. I can use them in all areas of growth: physical development, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, discovery, blocks, literacy. We plan on incorporating every area that you can think of into the classroom, in a real natural environment.”
Flynt emphasizes that the DeJoy Primary Education Center will enable St. Pius X School to focus on younger learners’ needs and then shepherd them through their elementary school years, with teachers working “together to make sure everything’s streamlined.”
“Knowing where (students) came from and where they need to go is really important,” she says, “to have that focus on the young learner, give them an awareness and a love of learning. The earlier you give them that, the better off they are.”
Because the kindergarten and first-grade classes are moving to the new building, space at St. Pius X School is being freed up for new uses, Flynt notes.
“The music program has a dedicated space now, we have two rooms now for Spanish, and our learning support’s moving into a bigger space,” she says.
A ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony for the DeJoy Primary Education Center is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 13.
— Georgianna Penn, correspondent