Happy State Bank funds playground for AC’s Hagy Center for Young Children

With support from the bank, the Hagy Center will create an outdoor learning environment — The Happy Playground — that encourages young children to explore and create through science, technology, engineering, math, and fine arts.

The playground for preschoolers will be well shielded from the sun by a large canopy, and among its features will be an area where youth can ride tricycles through a drive-through window and do a little pretend banking of their own.

“We want our young children to practice using money wisely even in these early years,” Mary Clare Munger, Education Department chair, said. “Happy State Bank is a great partner and our families are very grateful for this investment.

“The bank’s leadership was particularly pleased to note that the Hagy Center offers child care to college students who work long hours and rear young children, sometimes on very tight budgets,” she said.

The Hagy Center, located on AC’s Medi Park Campus, is designed to meet the educational developmental needs of young children 3 months to 5 years of age. In doing so, it serves as a primary education tool for AC Education Department students and community members on child-development educational paths, primarily through observation hours.

It is expected that The Happy Playground will be ready to fully serve its three-wheeling clientele sometime this summer.