Day Nursery in the news

Thanks to the recent Day Nursery Auxiliary fashion show, a donation to The Children’s Museum and today’s statewide rollout of the Paths to Quality child care rating system signage at child care centers, Day Nursery has had a few great opportunities to share our story in the news recently.  As you might have read here earlier, last Wednesday I was on Fox59 with our Style Show commentator (and Day Nursery graduate) Danielle Smith and models from The Helen Wells Agency promoting our fashion show. 

While we were live on Fox 59, children from the Day Nursery Northwest Center were heading to The Children’s Museum for a field trip compliments of PNC.  The financial institution was announcing a three-year donation to the museum to improve the popular  Playscapes area and wanted to make sure they had a full house of preschoolers to celebrate the announcement.  Although there was not a picture of our children in the story which appeared on Indystar.com, three of the four children pictured in the print version of the newspaper (see at left) were identified as Day Nursery students.

Yesterday, Day Nursery Executive Director Carolyn Dederer was interviewed by WRTV6 (ABC) reporter Myrt Price at our Indiana State Government Center because Day Nursery centers are participating the new voluntary statewide quality rating system, Paths to Quality.

If you missed the news story, you can watch it here.

This morning, the staff of Child Care Answers, the community outreach arm of Day Nursery, hosted one of 11 simultaneous press conferences across our state to announce the latest rollout of Indiana’s statewide child care quality rating system Paths to QUALITY.  Fox 59 covered the press conference so look for the story on their news tonight.   Day Nursery is very excited that six of our seven child care centers have been named Paths to Quality Level 4 (the highest level!) centers.  Our seventh center, the Day Nursery located on 3522 N. Central is a Level 3 and we anticipate it moving up to Level 4 when the center achieves national accreditation through NAEYC.  We are excited about this statewide push for quality child care and look forward to attracting more students because of our high ratings.

Day Nursery Clarian Center Directors Jesse McCloud (left) and Rene Withers show off their new Paths to Quality Level 4 banner.

(L to R) Marsha Thompson, IACCRRA; Mindy Bennett, Child Care Answers and Melanie Brizzi, Indiana Bureau of Child Care

Mindy Bennett Child Care Answers was interviewed by Fox 59

Douglas S. Hairston of the City of Indianapolis Front Porch Alliance is interviewed by the Paths to Quality video crew for future promotional materials.

Day Nursery Auxiliary Style Show Success

Day Nursery Auxiliary Co-Presidents Joan Lyday (left) and Spencer Scott (right) present a $10,000 check to Day Nursery Executive Director Carolyn Dederer to support the agency's tuition assistance scholarship program.

(left to right) Style Show co-chair Kathy Laesch; show commentator Danielle Smith of Fresh Fettle and show co-chair Marianne Stout

Behind the scenes at Fox 59 this morning

Anyone who knows me well knows that “fashion” is not my middle name.  So what was I doing at Fox59 at 8:45 am prepping to go on the morning news? Luckily, I was hanging out with some very fashionable people including our style show producer, owner of Fresh Fettle (and Day Nursery alum) Danielle Smith; Todd and Ashley from DLLowry Hairspa and Boutique and Leona and Glenna, two fabulous models from The Helen Wells Agency.  

Todd and Ashley from DL Lowry Hairspa prepare Leona (left) and Glenna (right), models from the Helen Wells Agency, for our fashion segment.

Right before we went on the air, I caught Danielle snapping a picture of the models wearing fashions from The Secret Ingredient, Mary and Martha's Exceedingly Chic Boutique and Day Furs.

We were all getting ready for a morning news segment to promote the Day Nursery Auxiliary Luncheon and Style Show coming up this Friday at Oak Hill Mansion Here’s a look behind the scenes in the green room and in the studio before this morning’s segment with Fox59′s Angela Ganote.  I apologize for some of the pictures being a bit blurry but I didn’t want to use my flash in the newsroom.

During the hair and makeup time, Danielle gathered info on this fall's hot looks from the experts at DL Lowry. Here's the scoop: matte lipstick is back!

Auxiliary Style Show gets support from Day Nursery alum

Day Nursery Director of Development Beth Rodriguez is our guest blogger today. Beth has been working closely with our Auxiliary on the production of the Day Nursery Auxiliary Luncheon and Style Show which is October 1 at the Oak Hill Mansion on 116th Street in Carmel. Tickets are still available. For more info, click the link to the right. Beth wanted to share some information about the sponsors who are supporting this year’s fashion show.

I want to tell you about two special sponsors of the Day Nursery Auxiliary Style Show- DL Lowry Hairspa and Boutique and Fresh Fettle.

DL Lowry Hairspa and Boutique will provide the hair styling and make artistry for the Helen Wells Models at our upcoming style show on October 1. This fantastic salon has been making its mark as the go-to hairspa for cutting edge styles and boutique accessories. We are very excited that they have so generously donated their services to our event for which all proceeds directly benefit the children and families we serve. Be sure to join us at the Style Show to see their amazing work!

DL Lowry Hairspa and Boutique is located at 1300 E. 86th Street in Nora Plaza. Call them at 317.843.2611 to make an appointment or visit their website for more information. And be sure to check out their new location, DL Salon, at 49th and Penn.

Fresh Fettle

This year, the Day Nursery Auxiliary has engaged Danielle Smith (a Day Nursery graduate!) and owner of Fresh Fettle, an Indianapolis-based fashion events and creative consulting company to produce the Style Show. Danielle’s background includes a Bachelors Degree in Fashion Design, and her experience includes work as a fashion journalist, wardrobe stylist, on-air fashion personality, public relations and special events coordinator and corporate merchandising coordinator. She also served as Technical Editor for the popular book Fashion for Dummies (Wiley) and is an adjunct fashion illustration instructor at The Art Institute of Indianapolis.

Smith credits some of her earliest child memories of enjoying art (and discovering a dislike of raisins) while being a student at Day Nursery’s Lilly Center Preschool Program in 1983. The excitement of working with color, shapes, and texture follows her today. “Day Nursery provided a great foundation and helped enhance the creativity my parents and sisters were already nurturing at home. I can remember feeling advanced in this area and wanting to learn more. I am a true believer of the saying ‘Never stop learning.’ The beauty of creativity is that it is unlimited and uninhibited…especially for a child. “

Special honor for a special teacher

Annie Terry (center) has been teaching at Day Nursery for 35 years. She is pictured here wth her husband, and good friend and fellow teacher Eva Johnson.

Tuesday night at the annual meeting, we  honored a teacher for a milestone that we believe no other Day Nursery teacher has accomplished in our 110 year history.  We honored Annie  Terry, of the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center for 35 years of service to our agency.  How cool is that?  Joining in the celebration was one of Miss Terry’s former students, Danielle Gillum Smith and her mother Thresa Steward.  Danielle spoke about the fond memories she has of her preschool experience at Day Nursery.  She especially wanted everyone to know that Day Nursery is where she discovered her love of color.  She is an instructor of fashion illustration at the Art Institute of Indianapolis and is often seen on TV and around our community in the role of a fashion commentator. Danielle’s mom was kind enough to pass on this picture of Miss Terry’s class in 1984,  Danielle is a bit taller but her smile was just as bright back then as it is today.  That’s her in the striped shirt standing on the far right side. And Miss Terry still looks exactly the same.  I guess hanging out with preschoolers all day is the secret fountain of youth.  Congratulations Miss Terry!

Thresa Steward listens to her daughter Danielle Smith talk about her fond memories of being a student in Annie Terry's class at the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center.

Day Nursery Auxiliary Fashion Show

Sorry if you were trying to get in touch with me today and couldn’t find me. I was out taking pictures and catching up with many of our supporters at the annual Day Nursery Auxiliary Style Show and Luncheon at Oak Hill Mansion in Carmel.  This event is the major fundraiser for the Auxiliary, whose mission, since 1938 has been to support the Day Nursery Association through service and fundraising.  This year’s event was co-chaired by Jenny Rosebrock and Marianne Stout. The fashions were provided by Lilly’s Boutique of Zionsville, Day Furs and Mary & Martha’s Exceedingly Chic Boutique of Carmel.   Day Nursery Auxiliary members who modeled were joined by a special guest Indianapolis First Lady Winnie Ballard, who also served as honorary chair. Leslie Olsen of WISH TV 8 returned this year as the M.C. I had a special guest at my table, Danielle Smith, who attended the Day Nursery Ruth A. Lilly Center on Central Avenue.  She shared her memories of Day Nursery and talked about how her early discoveries of color and art at Day Nursery lead her on a career that lead to her current position teaching fashion design at the  Art Institute of Indianapolis.  Here are a few pictures from today. I will be working on posting additional pictures on the Day Nursery Auxiliary blog too.  If you are interested in helping to support Day Nursery through volunteering for the Auxiliary, take a moment to check out their information.

Auxiliary member Kathy Laesch modeled this dress from Mary & Martha's Exceedingly Chic Boutique

Indianapolis First Lady Winnie Ballard was the Honorary Chair of the event

Past President Sally Anderson had a fun group of friends at her table.