SUU Child Care Center Receives Excellent Consecutive Rating
Published: March 04, 2025 | Author: Abbie Cochrane | Read Time: 3 minutes
Cedar City, UTAH–
Southern Utah University has always prioritized providing reliable and easily accessible resources for nontraditional students. One such support system is the on-campus child care center, the Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Hope. In January 2025, the center received a High Quality Award from the Child Care Quality System of the State of Utah Department of Workforce Services for the second year in a row.
“We try to follow President Benson and the University mission to create a culture of caring,” said Tayzha Huxford, director of the Sorenson Legacy Center for Hope, “For a lot of people–student-parents, student employees, children, and staff– this is their second home.”
Located just off of SUU’s campus, the Center hosts six classrooms for childcare and one larger classroom for preschool-aged children. With the capacity and licensing to host eighty-one children at a time, with thirty-nine children in the preschool program, the facility currently is near full capacity serving around fifty families with somewhere between seventy to eighty children. Each classroom has a lead teacher and an average of four student employees. In addition to the trained professionals caring for the children, the Center also has a nutrition specialist who helps prepare meals that meet the USDA food program requirements and align with any dietary restrictions, allergies, and intolerances any of the children may have.
The Center is unique because it allows parents to create their own childcare schedule around their class and work hours each semester. They also have the CCAMPIS (Child Care Access Means Parents In School), a grant funded by the Department of Education, which subsidizes 70% - 90% of childcare costs for student-parents receiving care through a state-licensed provider. This allows them to not only support families who utilize the center, but provide assistance to other community childcare programs .
“We are so grateful to our student employees and assistant teachers who manage to balance school, and a social life, yet prioritize the children they care for,” Huxford said. “It is remarkable to see the close relationships that our employees form with our littles and their families.,” Huxford added.
The team at the Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Hope consists of the following: CCAMPIS Coordinator, Adriana Carranza; Administrative Assistant, Erin Staheli; Business Operations Manager, Calli Pollock; Nutrition Assistant, Kara Page and Lead Teachers, Tallie Chamberlain, Taylor Larsen, Mindee Stevens, Jackie Petersen, Heather Hudson, and Carla Condie.
SUU President Mindy Benson also visited the center to celebrate this accomplishment with the center and see the center’s work in action.
“It was so wonderful to have President Benson visit our center. The kids loved interacting with her and it was great to be able to show her how important the center is to our SUU families,” said Huxford.
The Center will be celebrating its fifth anniversary this coming September and looks forward to a bright future of aiding SUU families and providing top-notch care for tiny T-Birds. The Center is always accepting donations in the form of typical classroom supplies such as paper, markers, glue, paint, etc. They also take volunteers to help in the classrooms.
“My goal is to create an atmosphere where full-time staff and student employees want to work, where parents feel comfortable and confident bringing their children, and where children look forward to coming to play,” Huxford said. “The kind of place where children ask their parents to go to school – even on Saturdays!”
The Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Hope is dedicated to creating and maintaining a high-quality program with educated and experienced staff while keeping the cost of the program affordable to parents. Good quality child care is crucial for little ones in their early stages of development and the Center is at the forefront of providing the necessary care for the families of SUU and Southwest Tech. Learn more about the Sorenson Legacy Foundation Center for Hope.
Tags: Cedar City Campus CurStu FacStaff Campus Resources Parents Community Family Life and Human Development Child Care Center
Contact Information:
Brooke Heath
brookeheath1@suu.edu