Business Profile: Bright Beginnings Pre-School Learning Center
The Bright Beginnings Pre-School Learning Center opened in 1982 to meet an important need in the area.
“We started seeing the need for a full-day program,” said Evelyn Mocheichel, who is co-executive director with fellow Yorktown resident Mara Ziedins of Bright Beginnings. “Women started going back to work and then a lot of the programs had only half a day. What do you do with the children?”
Today, Bright Beginnings has two facilities in Yorktown and one in Granite Springs, offering a wide range of programs year-round, including pre-school and before-school and after-school programs for older students.
“We were the first pre-school (summer) camp in the area in 1983,” Mocheichel noted. The summer camp includes several day walking trips to various locations in the area, including the fire house and local businesses.
Mahopac resident Vera Correa is responsible for setting up the curriculum and programs at Bright Beginnings. Correa has been program director for 26 years. “Most of our staff has been with us for a long time,” Mocheichel said. Many teachers have been working for Bright Beginnings from 12 to 20 years, she added.
“First of all they have to love what they’re doing. They really have to love children,” Correa said. “Also, we all get along very well. We all support each other.”
Mocheichel credited Correa as a major reason for the longevity of the staff. “She’s approachable. The staff feels comfortable asking her questions,” Mocheichel said, noting that Correa trains teachers.
The pre-school program, which is licensed by the state and federal governments, is intended for children between the ages of 18 months and five years. The after-school program offers homework assistance, arts activities, and some outdoor activities.
Administrators from Bright Beginnings were interviewed last week in the Yorktown Community and Cultural Center. “I think we are very fortunate to be in this building,” Correa said. “It’s a cultural building. It offers a lot to us. It has great access to our programs. It’s in the center of town, which is very convenient to our parents.”
Yorktown Stage lets day camp participants attend their shows and rehearsals. At the YCCC, the youths visit the seniors in the programs in the building and the children also the Yorktown Museum, she noted. “It’s a great environment for the children to be in,” she said, adding there are a field and two playgrounds for outdoor activities.
“The private school is funded through tuitions paid by parents. “Our curriculum is flexible and it adapts to the child,” Correa said. “The results are really wonderful because the children are learning to be independent.”
Ziedins said she helped start Bright Beginnings and has continued to work there since. “I love to see children grow and develop and become independent,” she said.
A major focus for Bright Beginnings is the development of communication skills, which is something youths will need in the working world, Ziedins said.
A Bright Beginnings student realizes “that he or she is the self-learner. That if they’re going to accomplish anything they have it do. It can’t be mom, dad or a teacher that’s just doing it for them and they’ll be copying it,” she said.
For more information about the three Bright Beginnings facilities, call 914-962-2929 or visit http://www.brightbeginpreschool.com.
