Wendy J. Whitesell: Director
Wendy Whitesell has been the director of our program since 1994 as it moved from St. Paul's church downtown, to Cedar Building on campus and was part of the design team of the Bennett Family Child Care Center.
She spent 8 years working at Cen-Clear Child Services in their Head Start program where she was a classroom teacher/home visitor, directed the Child Assault Prevention Program, and last served as the Social Services Coordinator for the agency.
She worked for 4 years designing and opening a for profit center in partnership with the owners here in Centre County. This program had 125 children from ages birth through school age. Throughout this time she has also been a consultant for Region III Head Start , helping to improve the quality of programs under federal review. Her expertise in Education/Disabilities and Parent Involvement/Social Services were utilized within this 5 state area.
She has worked with Smart Start Centre County as a NAEYC Accreditation Consultant; been responsible for creating and presenting group workshops for CIU 10 School Age Child Care Association (SACCA); and has presented at numerous conferences throughout Pennsylvania.
She holds a B.S. in Special Education and an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education. She has three grown children (Corey, Ben, and Rachel) and two grandchildren (Kaitlyn and Christopher), and has lived in Bellefonte for the past 20 years. She was raised in Levittown Pennsylvania and has lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Bloomsburg, Pennsylvaina before coming to Bellefonte.