2007-08 YEAR IN REVIEW- PG 4              Fall 2007                         UW-LACROSSE

***Course series opens door for completion of college degree***

Deciding to become a stay-at-home mom and run a day care business was what Gwen La Pour always wanted to do. La Pour is a state licensed in-home provider and owns and operates SonShine Family Child Care in La Crosse for more than 18 years. “I wanted to stay at home and take care of my kids. That’s basically what I wanted to be when I grew up was a mom”, says La Pour.

At the young age of 19, La Pour began her life as a wife and mother. After her fourth child, starting a day care business seemed to be the best of both worlds, being able to stay home with her sons and daughters while supplementing their income by watching a few other children.

Earlier this year, La Pour completed a series of four professional development courses for early childhood educators offered through Early Childhood Professional Development Options (ECPDO), a collaboration between UW-La Crosse, Viterbo, Western Technical College, CESA #4, La Crosse School District, Gundersen Lutheran Family Resources, Coulee Catholic Schools, La Crosse Day Care Center and Head Start. During one of the courses, Families and Communities,

Amy Sullivan, director of the Self Sufficiency Program (SSP) at UW-La Crosse, spoke to students about exploring the possibility of a college education. “Now that my youngest child had moved out to begin college this last year, it was time to give some thought to what I wanted to do,” says La Pour.

She completed the SSP and decided to pursue completing her undergraduate degree. This summer she’s spending her free time completing application materials at UW-Milwaukee to pursue an online bachelor of science, community education degree. “I’d eventually like to work as a parent educator or work with families as a resource person. Having been in day care for almost 20 years, I have a large backlog of experiences to pull from. I’d like to be able to pass that on or help others,” says La Pour.

Gwen La Pour

http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/31246/200708annualreport.pdf.txt;jsessionid=114qcz8z90jml?sequence=3