WS Chronicle

NWCDC Photo

Above: NWCDC CEO Tony Burton with Dr. Manderline Scales at the NWCDC Board of Directors Annual Meeting held at the Millennium Center on Dec. 3.

By Todd Luck

The Chronicle

Northwest Child Development Centers and MudPies celebrated 45 years in early childhood education by honoring longtime educator and board member Dr. Manderline Scales at a Dec. 3 event.

The annual Board of Directors meeting held at the Millennium Center was a festive event as NWCDC celebrated its anniversary. WXII 12  News reporter Margaret Johnson acted as MC and Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Elwood Robinson was the keynote speaker.

The non-profit NWCDC currently operates four MudPies centers serving Forsyth, Davie and Stokes Counties, including two locations in downtown Winston-Salem. The four- and five-star child development facilities provide a creative curriculum for infants through age five, and have state-of-the-art technology and teachers with four-year degrees. MudPies also offers an after school program and summer camp.

“Visionaries who established the foundation of NWCDC and MudPies Centers over forty-five years ago created a timeless endeavor – help children build their road to success, starting with the fundamentals of an excellent early childhood education,” NWCDC CEO Tony Burton wrote in a letter for the event’s program.

Established in 1970 as the Northwest Child Development Council, NWCDC opened its first center in 1971.  It would grow to serve six counties in Northwest North Carolina. Over the years it’s had a variety of programs, including one where teachers would visit children in their homes. NWCDC has sponsored many childcare facilities in a variety of locations. In its formative years its centers were located in places like churches, public facilities, recreation centers and even a few public schools.

Dr.  Scales said it was her work in early childhood education that led to her being recruited to the NWCDC board, where she’s served for more than 15 years. During the 1980s, she started and ran the Shiloh and St. Peter’s Childcare Center in the former Brown Elementary School, which had kindergarten, after school and summer enrichment programs. She said it served nearly 500 children at one time.

Scales, who is now retired, spent 55 years in the education field. She started as a teacher at the original Atkins High School. She was one of the teachers that integrated Parkland High School. She began the first Spanish program for local high schools and then did the same at Winston-Salem State University. She worked at WSSU for nearly three decades, becoming Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. She currently chairs the Scholarship Committee for the Emancipation Association, which will be giving away four $1000 scholarships to college bound high school seniors during its annual New Year’s service.

Scales said she was surprised and delighted to be honored with the first Vision Award given out by NWCDC to honor those who’ve worked in early childhood education. She said she still takes pride in those she’s taught over the years.

“I have been in Winston-Salem all of my life and I have some of the most beautiful former students that I still praise and most of my students are outstanding in any area they wanted to work,” said Scales.

The Vision Award has also been renamed in her honor and is now known as the Dr. Manderline Scales Vision Award.