Longtime director authors book on COW Nursery School
Carol Stewart worked at The College of Wooster Preschool for 32 years including 13 as its director. Stewart has written “A History of The College of Wooster Nursery School 1946-2023,” which is available at the Robert C. Mayer Bookstore in The College of Wooster’s Lowry Center.
For over a decade, Carol Stewart enjoyed her retirement, giving only sporadic thought to the book she’d told herself she would one day write about the school where she taught for 32 years. But distressing news in 2023 prompted her to take action.
Late that August, College of Wooster President Anne McCall announced the college’s nursery school, which had operated for 76 years, would not open for the academic year, set to begin in two weeks, citing operational and building challenges.
“I decided that was the time to write the book,” Stewart said. “The school’s future was in jeopardy.”
Having taught at the school from 1980-2012 and serving as director for 13 of those years, Stewart was well-positioned to pen the book. She also had collected a wealth of documentation on the school including handbooks, brochures, newsletters, activity schedules and articles. In addition, her son and daughter had attended the school, so her knowledge on the subject was deep-rooted.
“I have a filing cabinet and numerous containers filled with these materials,” Stewart said. “I did not want them ending up in a landfill.”
She immediately began work on the book. In addition to the materials and her memories, Stewart did extensive research and gathered information from teachers past and present, college librarians, and the public. Although she began the book before landing a publisher, she subsequently pitched the idea to Cleveland-based LIVE Publishing, and in October 2024, “A History of The College of Wooster Nursery School 1946-2023” was released.
The school had welcomed its first class of students in 1946 after Jean Bates, wife of Westminster Presbyterian Church Minister C. John L. Bates, suggested the idea of a nursery school at a meeting of the Wooster Junior Women’s Club. Club members subsequently held rummage and bake sales to raise $100 for startup expenses.
Jean Bates served as the first teacher of the Wooster Junior Women’s Club Nursery School, with a class of 25 children that met in the basement of Memorial Chapel on the college campus. Students from the college’s psychology department volunteered as assistants. Wooster native Ted Bogner was in that first class. According to Stewart’s book, Bogner recalled playing with big wooden blocks, which no doubt contributed to him later heading Bogner Construction Company, which built several of the college’s buildings.
In 1958 the school’s name was changed to the Wooster Women’s Civic Club Nursery School, reflecting the club’s new name, and in 1966 it relocated to its current location in Westminster Church House. In 1974 the college, believing the school could be a valuable component of its students’ academic experience, incorporated it into its department of psychology and named it The College of Wooster Nursery School.
Following the August 2023 announcement of the school’s closure, a group of dismayed people affiliated with the nursery school and/or the college formed a group to try saving the school. They held a rally and collected hundreds of signatures on a petition to the board of trustees, which stressed the school had provided decades of world-class programs involving nature and play-centered learning.
In addition, the experiential learning opportunity for college psychology students had been expanded to those majoring in education and in communication sciences and disorders. Their experiences in studying young children have sparked dozens of Independent Study projects, the culmination of their four years at the college. In April 2024 McCall announced the school, renamed The College of Wooster Preschool, would reopen for the 2024-25 year.
“I was ecstatic to learn the school would again be serving the Wooster community,” Stewart said.
“A History of The College of Wooster Nursery School 1946-2023” is a 180-page hardcover full of history, memories, facts and many color photos. Its cover features a plant seedling and a butterfly, reflecting the school’s longstanding “Green Grow the Children” motto and its monarch butterfly curriculum. After a friend saw the cover, she told Stewart it brought to mind a quote by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) — “There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other wings.”
“The quote perfectly captures both what the school does and what the book’s cover represents,” Stewart said.
The book is available only at the Robert C. Mayer Bookstore in The College of Wooster’s Lowry Center, 1189 Beall Ave.
Apple Hopkins, who has taught at the school since 2007, provided both content and technical support for the book.
“Carol’s book is truly a labor of love,” Hopkins said, “a love of the school and how much it has meant to many children. I hope the school continues to educate and inspire future generations of young ones.”
An anonymous donor recently pledged to match $5,000 in donations for that purpose. For details on donating, visit www.wooster.edu/preschool/gift. For more information on The College of Wooster Preschool, visit www.wooster.edu/preschool or call or email Director Tessa Hammond at 330-263-2131 or preschool@wooster.edu.