MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – For the past 75 years, SUNY Orange has consistently strived to find opportunities to support students while they attend and complete their education. Over 40 years ago, a task force led by Richard Hillier and Peter Alberghini, conducted the research and planning behind the on-campus childcare facility targeting college students who are parents, formerly known as Kindercollege.

With donations from the United Way, Middletown Rotary, OCCC Association, Student Activity Fund and supportive
individuals, the College opened Kindercollege in 1984 in the former Sarah Wells building on the Middletown campus.
At that time, Director Alice Fellenzer, and College President Mary Norman, worked to provide a collaborative
learning environment that allowed the 26 registered preschoolers access to many rich and unique campus resources
such as Sugar the Mastodon in the Bio Tech building. Later, in conjunction with the College’s establishment of its
Newburgh Extension Center in 1990, Kindercollege also opened a site in the former Broadway School at 300
Broadway in Newburgh.

In 2012, the new Morrison Lab School opened after the former Middletown site was torn down allowing for increased enrollment, an expanded outdoor play area with features including a giant xylophone, and larger, modernized indoor spaces that include observation rooms for educational purposes to SUNY Orange early childhood students. The Newburgh location has moved to the spacious and scenic Tower Building.

Licensed by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, SUNY Orange has moved into a new era of early childhood education by merging the childcare program with the curricula of the College (in several departments), forming new partnerships with public schools and assigning leadership of the program under the College's Office of Academic Affairs.

"At our lab schools, we are not only known for caring for children six weeks to five years old but are also known in our community as a center that welcomes future educators allowing them to experience first-hand caring for children and supporting their families. For this purpose, we work with the college education department closely as well as other departments such as the occupational therapy, nursing, dental hygiene, and psychology departments,” said Executive Director, Gina McCann.

Today, both SUNY Orange campuses are home to a beloved Lab School that provides a happy, healthy, and stimulating learning environment for all children and provides their respective district’s Universal Pre-K programming. Each child can explore and learn through activities, including music and movement, creative art, story time, outdoor play, and child-directed, center-based readiness experiences. Best of all, adult students with children have the peace of mind that their little one is just a few steps away while they attend classes and complete their degree.

The SUNY Orange Lab School is open to student parents, members of the College community and the general public Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more specific information about each program, including age requirements for each site, tuition costs, and qualifying for financial aid, please call (845) 341-4165 for the Middletown office and (845) 341-9056 for the Newburgh location.