GREDC

Our Image of Childhood

The GREDC Blog

Gigi’s Garden

Tom Dodd

We are definitely lucky to be located in Downtown Grand Rapids and have many walkable experiences to enjoy with our students. We are, however, challenged with the amount of outdoor space we have! It has been a process, and one that we could not have completed without family members volunteering, but we now have finished what we are calling “Gigi’s Garden”. The garden contains several raised garden beds and lattice trellises within a safely enclosed space. Children of all ages use the garden to explore, experiment with plants, water, and bugs, and learn about life cycles and nature.

Gigi's garden converts otherwise unused space into a safe, natural, outdoor classroom.
Child in Avventura practicing their fine motor skills handling the hose.
Tesoro child practices their gross motor skills by standing next to the raised bed, and fine motor skills by gently exploring the flower.

Susan Gerrity (Gigi) is a former director of the GREDC and was still active with us until the COVID pandemic began. She played a key part in us researching the schools of Reggio Emilia and taking inspiration from their approach, plus she hired Ms. Penny – so we had to find some way of thanking her!

A letter from Ms. Penny

I have to say, 32 years ago I was at the right place at the right time. Susan hired me to be a young preschool teacher at the Aquinas College Child Development Center.  She was the director the new child development center. I was the 3rd person Susan had hired for that school. I look back now and it was one of the best days of my life. I am still a part of that same school/legacy that Susan Gerrity built way back then.

Susan was an amazing boss. She always supported her employees and stood behind us when big decisions had to be made. Even though Susan retired and the AQCDC became the GREDC, she was still always there for us, always visiting, subbing, donating her time to volunteer, stepping in to be the interim director while we searched for new ones. We all missed her immensely when she retired.

Susan will always be the legacy of our school and to show her how greatly appreciated she is we would like to dedicate our new garden space to her just for being the amazingly wonderful person she is. We would like to present to you all “Gigi’s Garden”.

I hope it will always be as beautiful as she is.

Gigi (yellow jacket) with her family at the garden's opening ceremony.

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Lauren Huyck

Mentor Teacher

B.S in psychology and writing
A.A. in early childhood education
Teaching since 2010

My name is Lauren Huyck and I am the afternoon lead for the Scoperta classroom. I started as a teaching assistant when the center was still part of Aquinas in 2010. When we became the GREDC in 2012, I stayed on. In 2014, I was excited to accept the role of lead teacher.

I have a Bachelors in psychology and writing, and an associates in early childhood education. I am currently working on getting a Masters in psychology with a concentration in child development.

I love seeing the children grow and learn. There are so many developmental milestones that I get to see and experience. I fell in love with the Reggio approach and work to incorporate it in all my experiences with children. It has definitely taught me to treat children as citizens of the world.

I honestly could go on about how much I love the work I do and how passionate I feel about every child having quality care but that would take eons. So I will end with these two quotes:

“To take children seriously is to value them for who they are right now rather than adults-in-the-making.”

Alfie Kohn

If you trust play, you will not have to control your child’s development as much. Play will raise the child in ways you can never imagine.

Vince Gowmon