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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Child Care Center Gets 'Learning Lab'


The MCC Child Care Center last week christened a new, beautiful 270-degree mural that adorns the walls of the facilities’ big room. It is likened to a learning laboratory. The mural isn’t just any lovely painting. It serves as a tool for children to learn about nature, the four seasons and the animals that inhabit northern North America.

It also serves as a game of I Spy – with details so fine that without concentration, the children may miss them. Like the ladybugs in flight and the shadow of the ducks on the water, the dragonflies soaring overhead, and the petals of cherry blossoms floating to the ground.

Twenty-two MCC students spent more than 200 hours painting the mural as part of a service-learning course for ART 205 Commercial Illustration. The mission of the MCC Child Care Center is to serve the children (ages 8 weeks to 6 years old) of MCC students and the “big room” is a large area where children can run and play indoors.

Kudos go to Professor Kathy Farrell, who led the effort, and to the students: Micheline Bland, Marie Gallo, Hoa T.Bui, Yuliya Goldman, David Carlucci, Scott Kolesar, Lindsay Conderman, Joseph McGee, Michael Curre, Eric Moon, Leah Derring, Akiko Okazaki, Michael Donahue, Danielle Rousseau, Darcy Eichas, Sean Tallon, Mariah Essom, Alyssa-Anne Tao, Rachel Fox, Morgan Vallee, Melissa Fuss and Quincey Williams.

A huge thank you goes to the MCC Foundation for providing the funds for students to purchase paint and materials. And many congrats to Service-Learning Coordinator Susan Bender and Child Care Center Director Audrey Abbondanzieri, for both ensuring the effort was a success.

Dianne E McConkey
Public Affairs
12/20/2005

Students at the ceremony with Kathy Farrell (front row, second from left) and Susan Bender (front row, far right)


Student who painted this area with butterflies, ladybugs and other wonders.


Student who painted cherry blossoms, reminiscent of her hometown.