By AIESHA SOLOMON
Courtesy of Aiesha Solomon
Laurel resident Carolina Reyes is passionate about advancing childcare. She is a member-at-large and chair of advocacy of the Maryland State Child Care Association (MSCCA), a nonprofit that promotes the growth and development of licensed childcare and learning centers, and she belongs to a number of organizations that advocate for childcare, as well, and has supported legislation supporting early childhood education.
“I honestly believe that the idea of thinking that education starts at kindergarten is wrong,” Reyes said. “It start[s] much earlier.”
Reyes established Arco Iris Bilingual Children’s Center (AIBCC) in 2013 as a place “for her daughters to grow.” She also aimed to create a space where immigrant families could retain their native language and sustain cultural traditions, as it is “a gift that you’re giving to your children.”
According to Reyes, AIBCC was the first bilingual preschool in Prince George’s County. The school features a Spanish immersion classroom for children ages 2 and 3; 4- and 5-year-olds are in a bilingual class.
“Bilingualism improves cognitive development, it improves memory, promotes multicultural awareness, higher academic achievement, and promotes emotional/social development,” Reyes wrote in an email. “Bilingual children have better attention control, better communication skills, and better long-term career opportunities in a globalized world.”
Courtesy of Aiesha Solomon
Currently, there are 45 students enrolled in the school on Greenview Drive. The curriculum includes arts and crafts, dramatic play, social studies, language and literacy, mathematical thinking, music, physical activities, science and nature, and cooking and food experiences.
Diana Villatoro, who has taught at AIBCC for three and a half years, said her favorite part of working at the preschool is interacting with children and making a positive impact on their lives.
“We are very happy to be part of the product,” Villatoro said. “Mrs. Carolina’s ideas for this school every year [are] growing. It’s like more famil[ies] are very interested to come.”
Reyes sees parents as being primarily responsible for their young children’s education, while the school is there to support them.
“I want to switch the mentality for the families who come through Arco Iris about who we are as educators,” Reyes said. “I want them to see that we prepare ourselves. We take professional development. We learn a lot to be able to help their children, but if they are not involved, this is never gonna work.”
Christina Peusch, MSCCA’s executive director, met Reyes about five years ago at a public policy meeting.
Courtesy of Aiesha Solomon
“Carolina is a passionate advocate and [is] always interested in how to impact positive change,” Peusch said. “As a business owner, her participation and experience was and is still important to continuous improvements as well as strengthening of the child care scholarship program.”
Reyes “has been a really important partner in making sure that we get policies correct” and has assisted with writing bills, Maryland State Delegate Jared Solomon (District 18) said.
“I think what was even more important than Carolina’s just individual testimony is the relationships that she’s built with my colleagues in Annapolis, with other legislators, with her community representatives, and really being … an incredibly well respected and go-to partner on these types of issues,” Solomon said. “Somebody who everybody knows is going [to] give you accurate and really important information.”
Reyes first became interested in childcare in Chile, her home country, where she worked with children at an orphanage; Chile was under the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet at the time; She immigrated to the U.S. in 1998.
“It’s important that people are aware that any topic that matters to you, when you share your experience or when you share with someone [who] doesn’t know, and you are trying to change the perspective of somebody else, [that] is somehow a little bit of advocacy,” Reyes said.
