June 17, 2002
CAROLYN STRICKLAND:
Children of promise
___By Kyle Armstrong
___Staff Writer
___DALLAS--Sitting at her desk, Carolyn Strickland wears a smile as she thumbs through pictures of the children she loves. Children are her life and passion.
___She may not be as well known in Baptist circles as her husband, Phil, who is the longtime director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, but her work with Mi Escuelita preschool has improved the lives of thousands of young children.
Carolyn Strickland reads to children at Mi Escuelita, a Dallas preschool she founded to help non-English-speaking children learn English so they can perform better in Texas schools. She views her work with the school as a ministry and gift of God.
___Helping them succeed in life puts the smile on her face.
___Mi Escuelita is a preschool that teaches non-English-speaking children the English language. The independent, non-profit agency offers classes in five Dallas locations.
___Some might see this as just another educational job, but for Strickland, it's a ministry rooted in her Christian faith.
___"This program started on a prayer, a prayer for something meaningful with school children to present itself--and it's the most meaningful thing that has ever fallen in my lap," she said. "I have always felt like this was God's program, and he has rewarded me beyond anything I could have imagined."
___Strickland sees God's hand in the churches who sponsor the program and the volunteers who care for children who are not their own.
___"I am always awed by the number of Christians I call 'earth angels.' They have so much compassion to love a child who is not theirs," she said.
___Those who have worked alongside Strickland at Mi Escuelita see her faith as the backbone of her passion and work with the preschool.
A child points out what she's learning on a classroom computer.
___"That program has succeeded because of Carolyn's faith and persistence," said former co-worker and friend Mike Imhoof, a fellow member of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas. "She has prayed and cared for those children and has had the faith that the organization would continue to grow. And it has grown so much--because of her faith.
___"She prays like it all depends on the Lord but works like it all depends on her."
___Strickland, who started her career as a schoolteacher, knew she was called by God to work with younger children. She taught kindergarten and first-grade students 12 years. Then, in the summer of 1978, she developed an idea that would change the course of her life.
___That summer, Strickland and a friend, Helen Peña, taught preschoolers in Vacation Bible School at El Divino Salvador Presbyterian Church. While interacting with the 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, Strickland encountered a problem.
___"The children I was working with could not speak English, and I could not speak Spanish," she explained. Strickland searched for language resources and curricula for preschool children, in hopes of finding something to cross the linguistic barrier between the preschoolers and herself.
___Inspired by that search, Strickland developed the idea of Mi Escuelita. With the knowledge that 80 percent of language skills are developed during the earliest years of life, Strickland knew there was a need for non-English-speaking children to gain listening and speaking skills for a successful school experience.
___However, not even Strickland could have imagined what Mi Escuelita would become.
___After its founding in 1978, Mi Escuelita slowly expanded across the Dallas area. By 1986, the preschool classes were held at six sites. That year also marked the accreditation of Mi Escuelita by the National Association for Education of Young Children. Four years later, in 1990, Mi Escuelita teamed up with Head Start of Greater Dallas to serve more children--tripling enrollment and personnel.
___Today, Mi Escuelita operates in five Dallas locations and serves 330 children between the ages of 2 and 4. The average child who attends Mi Escuelita begins school with an English vocabulary around the bottom 10 percent of society but leaves with a vocabulary of nearly 3,000 words--around the 40th percentile. Students who complete the program experience an increase of 300 percent in their overall language skills, and most are at the top of their second- and third-grade classes.
___That's why the woman behind it all remains as passionate about her job today as she was 25 years ago.
___Strickland wakes up every morning with a mission--to gain advocacy for early childhood development, particularly children who cannot speak English.
___With millions of dollars going into college endowment funds annually, preschool development often is overlooked by philanthropists, Strickland said. But she believes her cause is a worthy one.
___"Higher education is all based on the beginning premise of what is instilled in children early," she said. "What many people do not realize is that the potential of greatness for every child has started before they are 5. If you have not exposed these children to music, art, reading, sports and they spend days idly, they may never learn or experience those things."
___With nearly a 25-year track record behind her now, Strickland sees photos not only of preschoolers but also of young adults who have graduated from college and begun careers.
___The image those Mi Escuelita graduates may have of her is that she was, in fact, the earth angel who instilled her faith in them.
___
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