Gloria Bovell is Making a Difference for Children

Teaching children comes naturally to Gloria Bovell, and with more than 30 years of child care experience, it shows. Gloria works at the YMCA Child Care Center in the Texas Medical Center where each day she teaches a group of 18 4-year-olds, and twice a week she teaches Spanish to all kids at the Center, ages 3 to 12.

In 1967, Gloria began caring for children at a local child care center in her hometown of Pedro Miguel, Panama. There, she cared for children from Panama City and the Canal area, and soon moved up to the position of assistant director for the center. Nineteen years ago, she brought her talents to the Child Care Center at the Texas Medical Center, which has been managed for the last 10 years by YMCA of the Greater Houston Area.

"I love what I do. Every day, I help young children to reach their full potential. It takes time for kids to learn new things. But it is so exciting to see when the light bulb goes on - the excitement of understanding runs across their little faces and they seem so proud of themselves. And I am proud of them, too," she says.

Her influence does have a positive impact on the children and their families - the kids are eager to keep learning, and parents are happy about their progress. In fact, Gloria talked about a 4-year-old boy, who, last year, had a hard time coming to school - he would cry and scream and give his mother a hard time every morning when she would bring him to the YMCA Child Care Center. Gloria talked with his mother to try to uncover the problem. She learned that he'd had a bad experience the year before, when he lived in another state.

With time and special attention, she and the mother were able to help the boy work through his problems. By the second semester, he'd come in each morning with smiles and a big hug for "Miss Bovell." The mother said she was so happy that her son had such a caring teacher.

"Now he's here in the YMCA Charter School, and doing very well. But still, every day he stops to say hello, and often I see him waving through the inside window."

The YMCA pre-school curriculum that Gloria teaches includes learning the alphabet and numbers, values and lessons on how to interact with other people, as well as Spanish, drama, science and creative play. Because the youngsters are learning academics for the first time, pre-school teachers may spend up to two weeks helping the kids become familiar and comfortable with new things like letters. For example, the class will have a show-and-tell with items brought from home that begin with the letter "A." The snack for the day will start with the letter "A." And they will play educational games involving the letter "A."

"Repetition and active participation are how children learn best," Gloria says.

She also teaches Spanish, an enrichment component of YMCA Child Care. Lessons are taught in both Spanish and English, so the children can better understand and identify with the words. Gloria says she loves teaching Spanish and watching how the kids react to the language.

"They think some Spanish words sound funny at first, but then they are shocked when they hear what words mean in English. I know though that they enjoy the lessons and learn from them. because parents tell me all the time that their children are using Spanish words at home."

When asked about her personal life, with abundant excitement, Gloria had one thing to say, "I just became an American citizen! America is freedom, and I am so happy now. It was beautiful to be sworn in with my dad, my two sisters and my niece."

On June 25, 1999, after passing an oral and written test about the United States, Gloria Bovell, four other family members and hundreds of other immigrants received their citizenship. Her mother, hopefully, will be called soon to receive her American citizenship.

"Gloria exhibits genuine care when carrying out her daily tasks as a child caregiver. You can see her enthusiasm and you can tell that it comes form her heart. And to me, that's what teaching is all about," says Pam McKinley, executive director of the YMCA Child Care Center at the Texas Medical Center.

With extensive child care experience and credits from a community college in Panama, Gloria is planning to study this spring at a local college to become a certified bilingual teacher.

"I want to keep helping kids. I think with more education, I can help myself and be better at helping them."

- DEBORAH MARTIN

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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