The Gibes family has been part of the Steepletown Preschool for three of the past five years. Their oldest son Wesley, who is now in the 4th grade, was part of the 2nd preschool class back in 2014-15. He was followed by Grady last year and Rory this year. Aaron (Dad) shared the following comments in a recent interview:
“Both Wesley and Grady always say ‘I want to go back to preschool. I loved it at preschool.’ The preschool is a great environment that makes it a place my kids want to attend. I have definitely noticed a positive growth in the program over the past few years. Ben (Preschool Director) has been doing a great job. He has the passion to work with kids this age and handles the administration part really well. My youngest son anticipated coming to school as he came with me all of last year when I dropped off Grady. He was excited to finally be here.
My family has only been in Grand Rapids for 10 years so we still feel like newbies. Making the connections with the other families at the preschool has us feeling more and more like this is our community. There are lots of event and activities for families, like the crockpot cooking class-really cool!- that extends what you do here into the larger community.
A neighbor friend was looking at a list of preschools in the summer and I recommended that she sign her son up to attend Steepletown. It has been a great experience and has only gotten better and better. It is great to see familiar faces every year; when Wesley comes here he gives Mr. Donte a hug. A year ago Max was working on his GED with Steepletown and helping at the front desk; now he is a family coach at the preschool which is great. It ties back to what I was saying, that its not only the community at the preschool but it really extends into the larger community.”
