| Christina Smith has a heavy load. She's a single mother with three small children. She is also a high school drop-out. While she is now at a place in her life where she wants to get her education and get ahead in life, finding the space and time to obtain that education is difficult to come by. "You know getting on the bus, getting to day care, it would make me not want to come," Smith said as she took a break from her studies at Omega School. Omega School, located at 835 W. Badger Rd., started to make things a little easier for single mothers like Smith to get their GEDs last fall when they instituted on-site day care for single mothers while they studied for their GED tests every Tuesday and Thursday, 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. "One of the needs that our students had was child care, a very specific child care, child care when theycame," said Oscar Mireles, executive director of Omega. "Sometimes friends or family would offer to do it, but it was never consistent. What we were able to do, on a limited basis, is offer on-site child care. It seems to have worked. Right now, since we started in September, we have five women who've been able to stay long enough and focus enough and the child care really helped, where they've now gotten their GED credentials." While the parents are upstairs studying, Susan Krieger cooked home-made soup for the three children who were in attendance that day. This allows the single moms to not worry about lunch when they are there as well. Krieger is backed up by the help of volunteers. In addition to the nutritious meal, Mireles also sees the children benefiting as well. "We've been working with them on pre-literacy skills," Mireles said. "We've been reading books to them. And the kids see their parents are going to school. It helps the kids learn some social skills. Overall, we've been very happy." Smith is definitely taking advantage of the service. She took her first test May 3 and is already enrolled in the nursing program at MATC, which she starts June 3. So instead of sitting at home taking care of three young children, Smith is starting the road towards a meaningful career that will pay her a living wage in a profession that is in dire need for new professionals And she is doing it through the extra help she receives from her "extended family" at Omega School. For more information about Omega's GED programs, call 256-4650. |
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| Omega School Child Care Program Educational empowerment By Jonathan Gramling |
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