Thank you for your interest in The
Child Development Student Association (CDSA)! CDSA is a professional
student organization for anyone interested in working with children
and or families. It is especially useful for students who are interested
in exploring the many options there are in working with children and
families either directly or indirectly. This organization was originally
formed in 1982 by child development students who wanted to provide a
setting where they could share ideas, interests, and concerns for children
with their peers, as well as to provide a community service in child-related
activities. One of the founding members of CDSA, Mike Graf, is currently
on faculty in the child development department here at CSU, Chico.
Meetings are held at least once a month each semester
and we also get involved with various child-related activities in the
community. In past fall semesters, we have participated in the Halloween
Carnival held at Cal Skate; however, this semester, we joined forces
with the brothers of Nu Alpha Kappa (NAK) in providing assistance to
the Halloween Carnival held at Four Winds Elementary. At the end of
the fall semester, the child development department participates in
a program where they are given an anonymous family, which we refer to
as the “holiday family”, who they are responsible for buying
presents for. We contribute to this project by holding a night of present
wrapping, at which CDSA members donate their time to wrap all of the
presents the child development department has accumulated for our holiday
family. This past spring semester, we participated in the Children’s
Fair held downtown and also volunteered at the Valley Oaks Children’s
Services Book Fair.
An ongoing service CDSA
provides is to donate a portion of a child’s tuition to the CSU,
Chico Child Development Lab (CDL) each semester. The CDL plays a large
role in the child development department, as it serves as the 2nd level
internship, of three levels, in which majors are student teachers in
the lab, where they develop and implement curriculum in the CDL setting.
The current co-directors of the CDL, Jan Harris and Sandra Needles,
are also graduates of CSU, Chico; as are the current lead teachers,
Jaclyn Tollini and Kim McKenzie.
CDSA has a number of fundraising activities, which
help us in donating tuition to the CDL as well as to provide snacks
at meetings and give our guest speakers a little something to say “thanks”.
We are currently selling sweatshirts, t-shirts and children’s
¾-sleeve shirts, which represent the child development program,
as an on-going fundraiser. We have also had fundraising nights at Chevy’s
and done carwashes (we had a very successful one in Spring 2003 with
the help of the NAK brothers). The other fundraising event, which was
mentioned previously, is the Spring BBQ, which we sell tickets for.
I want to, again, thank you for your interest in
CDSA. If you have any other questions about CDSA you can contact me
at acissej733@aol.com. For questions about the CSU, Chico Child Development
program or Child Development Lab, please contact their office at (530)
898-5250 or visit their web site at http://www.csuchico.edu/chld/.
I hope you enjoy the rest of our web page and get all of the information
you hope to find!
Jessica Francisco
CDSA President
