Leah Kiracofe ’26 is helping a little girl in a flowered shirt wash her hands.
“I can do it,” the three-year-old insists.
Kiracofe smiles and steps back, giving the little girl space to finish rinsing her hands and, as the preschooler toddles away to join her friends for morning meeting time, Kiracofe quickly turns off the faucet and follows. It is that dance: learning when to step in and when to step back, that Kiracofe and her classmates have been practicing every Tuesday and Thursday morning in the BC child development lab. For 75 minutes, twice a week, BC students in the Child Development course lead about a dozen preschoolers in play-based learning activities in a specially-outfitted classroom in Moomaw Hall. It is equipped with playdough, toy trucks, a sensory table and lots of books. If the weather is decent, they go outside to play with hula hoops and chase bubbles.
Kiracofe, who grew up on a Bridgewater, Va., beef and poultry farm, is majoring in human development and family science (HDFS) at BC and working towards a certificate in agricultural sciences at Blue Ridge Community College in nearby Weyers Cave, Va. Her dream is a position where she can teach youth about agriculture and farming. She has already completed an internship for the Virginia Cooperative Extension where she worked with 4-H participants, and now she is learning how to engage the youngest of her future students.
The Bridgewater child development laboratory is one of the ways that students studying HDFS can get hands-on experience putting what they learn in the classroom to work in a real-world setting. But HDFS majors don’t just go into work with young children or in formal educational settings.
According to Dr. Donna Hoskins, Associate Professor of Health & Human Sciences, the HDFS major is designed to prepare students to provide evidence-based prevention education and support for children, youth, seniors and families in formal and informal settings.
“HDFS majors have taken off across college campuses to meet the rising demand of careers in human services,” Hoskins says. “The BC program is designed to prepare graduates to serve families and individuals across the lifespan. And our child development laboratory and a lab focused on serving elderly community members allow students majoring in HDFS to have applied learning experiences.”
Hoskins says that some HDFS graduates have gone on to work within school settings or for social services, but alumni also work in retirement centers, homeless shelters, prisons and in state and local government. Some of them have continued their education and become marriage and family counselors or started their own businesses.
One of the latter is Jacael Wallace ’20, who runs her own business, Family Tree Support Services, providing parenting education, coaching and doula services to families in and around her hometown of Prince George County, Md. Wallace says she fell in love with BC while visiting with her mom and grandmother during her senior year of high school.
“It was so homey,” she says of her first impression of BC. “Everyone was friendly, and the environment was very warm.”
Wallace says she originally planned to study to become an athletic trainer, but switched to what is now the HDFS major at the beginning of her junior year. She had worked in daycare and as a summer camp counselor and thought she might enjoy a career working with children and families. But it was during her senior year, when she took Child Development with Hoskins, that Wallace says she knew that she was on the right track.
“I came to feel that this [field of study] was where I was meant to be,” Wallace says. “Dr. Hoskins helped instill in me a sense of confidence. She is passionate about her work, and it made a difference in the classroom.”
HDFS alumna Abigail Allen Cave ’22 also speaks of Child Development with Hoskins as one of her favorite classes at BC. The Warrenton, Va., native is a third-generation BC Eagle, who grew up attending football games and Homecoming festivities at the College. She knew she loved working with children and thought she might pursue a career in education but didn’t want to get locked into working in a school environment. She says that both HDFS coursework and one-on-one conversations with Hoskins helped her understand the flexibility that a major in HDFS would provide.
“I wanted a role where I could serve others and serve the community,” Cave says. “There are so many different avenues for [HDFS majors], and it has such a broad curriculum that exposes you to all the different stages in life.”
Cave did volunteer work at the Bridgewater Retirement Community and then a semester-long internship at the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) in Harrisonburg, Va., during her time at BC. Cave says her experience at the two retirement communities gave her exposure to all the various roles and positions that support seniors in a residential setting and led her to develop a particular interest in working with people with cognitive impairments. She now works at VMRC as a Life Enrichment Program Manager, responsible for twice-daily social and educational programming for assisted living residents, a position that she says she loves.
Wallace says an internship she did while at Bridgewater also prepared her for her future career. During her senior year, Wallace conducted research to launch a daycare center as part of an internship. She graduated in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, worked for a time as a nanny and then, in 2021, launched her doula business, providing postpartum information and support on infant feeding, soothing and coping skills for new parents. She earned a master of arts in family sciences from Concordia University St. Paul in 2023 and has expanded her business to include sleep consulting, family education and coaching for parents of newborns through teens.
“Our mission is to support the whole family with strength-based solutions,” Wallace says. She is particularly interested in providing her services to families of color in her area, where there can be stigma against accepting paid help. Wallace says she tries to get her message out as far and wide as possible: “It is ok to get support. Families don’t have to do everything alone.”
Cave credits her time at BC with helping her build a personal and professional network that continues to support her in her post-college career.
“Bridgewater really taught me how to make connections and keep connections,” she says. “The relationships I built with professors have been helpful to me both in providing references for jobs and as people I can go to for advice with my current position.”
To learn more about the HDFS major, visit the HDFS website.
– Heather S. Cole
1/2/25
