Deep Family Connections Power UPUMC Program

The Weekday School, in its 65th year, teaching new generations of students

By: Karen Chaney

Carita Youngblood’s connections to The Weekday School at University Park United Methodist Church (UPUMC) date to its beginnings.

Her grandfather, William L. Carter Jr., and another member gave the seed money to start it 65 years ago.

“My aunt needed a place to go to kindergarten,” Youngblood said. “My grandfather said, ‘Nobody does preschool like the Methodist church does preschool. Why don’t we have one at our great church?’”

The school opened in 1957, with Youngblood’s aunt among the first kindergarteners. Today, the school serves infants through kindergartners.

In 1973, Youngblood followed her aunt’s footsteps and attended the school, as did her siblings and cousins. 

“In kindergarten, we tanned deer hide on the porch and made lye soap,” she recalled.

She eventually returned as a teacher, a position she held for 15 years before becoming the early childhood education coordinator. 

As a teacher, she enjoyed showing her students a class picture and pointing out that they were in the same room she was in as a child.

In 2000, her children started walking the same halls.

“There was never a doubt this was where my kids were going to go,” she said.

Casey Hanna, who lives within walking distance of the school, was a baby when she first attended in 1984. Her husband was a student then too, but he was a year ahead of her. 

Hanna’s father and her children were all students there. 

“My daughter had a teacher named Jamie McDermott, and I had her as a teacher, and so did my husband,” Hanna said. “She still subs today. She’s incredible.”

Her grandparents, like Youngblood’s grandparents, helped establish the church.

“It’s fun on the playground to tell people who don’t know me that I went here,” she said. 

Although Libby Nicodemus, director of The Weekday School, didn’t attend the school as a child, she quickly came to appreciate the program after she enrolled her son in 2009. She was soon hired as a contract employee to assist with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation process.

Eventually, she joined the staff and, in 2013, became the director.

The secret to the school’s longevity is the staff, six of whom have worked there for over 30 years, Nicodemus said.

“I bet that in this building if you stacked everyone’s years of teaching experience, we’d have 200 plus years of experience,” she said. “It’s a Godsend.”

Plans include keeping up with trends in early childhood education and expanding the curriculum for the recently completed outdoor learning center.

“We are contributing to a legacy; this place is bigger than all of us,” Nicodemus said. “Our work here is to continue the legacy of The Weekday School, to love it and nurture it and operate at the intersection of Christ and children.”