“I love the activity level and how fun it is, and I feel my work here has influenced my path in terms of what I want to do in the future,” says Paige Rogers ’25, a teaching assistant at Wellesley Community Children’s Center (WCCC). From hiking along Severance Hill to counting frogs in the arboretum, or the “frog kingdom” as the children fondly call it, WCCC leaves a lasting, positive impact on students and the children they work with.
Since 1971, WCCC’s Early Childhood Program has cared for the children of Wellesley and Babson faculty, students, and staff, and families in the surrounding communities. The program is staffed by professional early childhood educators as well as Wellesley College students. This fall, WCCC employed 53 Wellesley students as teaching assistants to support the classrooms and foster the children’s growth and development in a dynamic, inclusive environment.
Rogers, who has worked at WCCC for three years, had child care experience before coming to Wellesley, but when applying for work-study jobs as an incoming student she did not initially look at WCCC openings, she says, because “it did not align with my career goals at the time.” A biology major, Rogers was considering going into research and on to graduate school. But in the end, she decided to take a position there due to the familiarity of the work.
Her career outlook changed once she began her job as a teaching assistant. At WCCC, children are separated by age into eight classrooms. Rogers works in the nature room with children aged 4 to 6, supervising them as they play outside and leading them on group walks across Wellesley’s campus. Now, Rogers aspires to work as an outdoor educator, which she “wouldn’t have even considered” if not for her work at WCCC.
Rogers says it’s been rewarding to observe the children who at first refused to sit on the ground enthusiastically counting worms and collecting rocks. “It’s so wonderful to see how much more confidence they have and how comfortable they are,” she says.

Sadie Griffith ’25 values that at WCCC there is an intrinsic understanding that teaching assistants are students first. When she was searching for work-study positions as a first-year, multiple people recommended WCCC because of its supportive environment. “It’s so clear how WCCC recognizes what being a Wellesley student is and the demand that follows,” she says. She appreciates having the flexibility to change her shifts or take time off if needed.
Griffith also cherishes the connections and the community she has found at WCCC. For example, Paula Fallon Dolan, assistant director of the Early Childhood Program, knows each teaching assistant personally: “I go in, and she will ask me about how my recent assignment went or how my friends are doing,” Griffith says.
Griffith, an education and political science double-major, is one of many teaching assistants who have decided to pursue teaching licensure thanks to their work at WCCC. While students must have internship experience at the middle school or high school level to complete the licensure process, working at WCCC gives them additional hands-on experience. Teaching assistant Elizabeth Kim ’25, an English major and economics minor, is also working to acquire a teaching license. This semester she is dividing her time between WCCC, where she works with 2- and 3-year-olds, and an eighth grade English classroom at Wellesley Middle School. Kim says observing the two age groups has strengthened her understanding of child development and learning, and of the psychology and behaviors of young children. “It’s so interesting to see the similarities and differences between the eighth graders at the middle school and the children at WCCC, such as the ways they interact with each other and the world, such as how they interact with each other and the environment,” she says. “Every activity planned at WCCC is intended to develop a certain skill, such as exposing the kids to being outdoors to get them used to being in different environments. I’ve learned these little things really matter, and how one small change in their environment can affect their growth.”
Eliene Wen ’21, a former WCCC teaching assistant, is now a preschool teacher at the center. Before returning to WCCC she taught kindergarten in Baltimore, where the district required children to participate in rigorous testing. “It was so frustrating, seeing these 4- and 5-year-olds feel down on themselves because they couldn’t understand these test questions,” she says. She prefers the approach at WCCC, where the emphasis for children at that stage is on social-emotional, play-based learning. “WCCC keeps up to date in terms of research for developmentally appropriate childhood practices, driven by passionate educators,” she says. Through WCCC’s strong connections to local community colleges, she says she was able to take a course “covered by financial aid” that addressed new or relevant research in childhood education. In addition, she says, the staff takes time “to build culturally relevant practices” to ensure they are cognizant of different cultures and backgrounds in the classroom.
WCCC fosters a sense of lasting community that teaching assistants carry with them into their future careers. Ilana Wyner ’13, now a language development coach with Framingham Public Schools, worked at WCCC as a Wellesley student and for two years directly after graduation. As a psychology major interested in developmental psychology and language acquisition, she learned a lot by observing the kind of behavior she was studying in her courses. “Getting direct experience with the kids in the zero to 5 age group and seeing the science play out in real life was extraordinary,” she says. Wyner still treasures the connections she made with the children and staff at WCCC. “WCCC showed me an example of a healthy workplace and set my expectations for what I want in a future school setting,” she says. “It was such a special place to work; it truly felt like a family there.”