Texas A&M System Announces Opening Of New Child Care Center

The building that will be renamed the Charlotte Sharp children's learning center. Photo taken July 8, 2020.
The building that will be renamed the Charlotte Sharp children's learning center. Photo taken July 8, 2020.

The pandemic is not stopping the opening of the Texas A&M system’s new day care center.

Construction has taken a year and a half on the two story facility off Hensel Street north of University and west of Texas.

What’s called the Collaborative Learning Center can accommodate up to 263 children from ages two through six.

Starting August 3, half-day and full-day preschool programming and child care will be available.

The center is open to the public as well as A&M students and employees.

This is the first phase of an A&M system public private partnership.

The children’s center will be joined in the future by senior assisted living and memory care units.

System officials say when completed, the complex will be a living laboratory to conduct education, clinical instruction, and research for A&M faculty and students.

Additional information from the Texas A&M system:

A new — and affordable — preschool will open soon near Texas A&M University to address the shortage of quality programs for young children in the Brazos Valley.

The Collaborative Learning Center will be open Aug. 3 to students 2 years old to 6 years old, and it will be available to all members of the public. It will provide half-day and full-day preschool programming and child care.

The Texas A&M University System and private developers broke ground last year on the facility in College Station. It offers parents the chance to send their children to a state-of-the-art school, while also giving students from the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M the opportunity to work with preschoolers and their teachers.

“Those of us at the Texas A&M System see it as our responsibility to help the community and future Aggies,” said John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M System.

Vicki Gibson, Ph.D., the executive director of the facility, said the school’s teachers will promote moral, intellectual, social, emotional and physical development with their students.

“CLC was designed to become an exemplary model of community cooperation and collaboration that offers research-based, high quality programs,” Dr. Gibson said. “CLC will provide instruction, childcare and onsite professional development that informs and supports parents, local childcare staff and educators and persons working for local agencies that serve children and families.”

To enroll or set up a tour, please visit https://tamuclc.com/registration/ or call (979) 485-1308.

The preschool is housed in a two-story building with approximately 15,000 square feet on the first floor and about 11,000 square feet on the second floor. It will serve up to 263 children. It is open year around (except holidays), and hours are 7:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The school is located 1411 Hensel Street in College Station. More information is available at https://tamuclc.com/.

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