CHILDS, Md. — It’s going to be a whole new world for Mount Aviat Academy’s youngest students this year. Some temporary pain — a year of construction that required some accommodation from the rest of the school — has led to a considerable gain, as the new preschool building is ready for its 3- and 4-year-olds to arrive.
The former preschool building is still there, but it’s a completely different space. It previously had one big classroom, which was used by the pre-K-4 students, while pre-k-3 met in the gathering room in the convent. The interior of the former preschool building is completely different, and there is a large addition that has allowed Mount Aviat to move all of the preschoolers into the same building.
Shannon Cicero, who teaches the 3-year-olds, is understandably excited about the changes after having spent several years in the convent’s gathering space.
“We were all on our own island, and now we can collaborate and work together to best help the students that we have with us,” Cicero said while decorating her classroom in mid-August. “I can see students I taught last year. I can talk to teachers when I bounce ideas or whatever.”
The building has a kitchen, and each of the classrooms is equipped with its own bathrooms, sinks and countertops. Cicero was impressed with the thought that went into the planning.
“At this age, you can’t leave the classroom,” she said.
The new kitchen will enable the youngsters to receive a lunch every day.
“It was a couple of years in the works,” advancement director Charlene Nichols said.
In the future, they will be able to head out back to use their very own playground. What is now an empty patch of grass will become a playground exclusively for the preschool.
“We are going to have an amazing outdoor space when it is finished,” Cicero said. “Sister (John Elizabeth Callaghan, the principal) has all of these great plans for our recess plans. It’s way bigger than it used to be. We’re going to have a lot of great stuff going on out there.”
The opening of the new preschool building will benefit the rest of the students. Last year, the 4-year-olds were moved to the main school building, displacing the third and fourth grades. Those boys and girls met in the library, Nichols said.
The Oblate Sisters will have their library and gathering room for their use now, “although we were happy to share … with our young learners,” Sister John Elizabeth wrote in a summer newsletter.
Mount Aviat’s preschool opened in 1979. Over the years, the school has expanded its early learning to 3-year-olds and added a second class of 4-year-olds. The additional space was a necessity.
“This is our biggest expansion since Holy Family Hall was built in 1993,” Sister John Elizabeth Callaghan wrote.
