Only STEAM preschool in Inglewood celebrates its 20th anniversary

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- Four-year-old London'Marie Redick-Walker can spell her name in Spanish and American Sign Language.

London'Marie along with about thirty other elementary students attend From the Heart Preschool. It is the only S.T.E.A.M. preschool in Inglewood and this year, it celebrates its twentieth anniversary.

"S.T.E.A.M. is science, technology, engineering, arts, math and our curriculum is a mixture of all those things," Betty Bradley Luckett founder of From the Heart said.

Ms. Betty didn't start in education. Before opening From the Heart, she was an engineer for the city of Los Angeles and she said she saw a need for early exposure to kids in her community.

"Being an engineer for the city of LA, there weren't many of us there," Luckett said. "So, I want our youth to be exposed to that type of curriculum so that they're able to have those opportunities, so we can see more people of color."

Head teacher Cherie Heinrich said they use hands-on, open-ended activities to teach lessons and relate to real-world situations.

"The world is changing, the community is changing and hopefully the problems in our community, they can learn to solve them," Heinrich said.

Not only do they offer the standard S.T.E.A.M. curriculum at From the Heart, but they also offer what might be considered after-school programs at other places, like tennis, yoga, karate and music lessons.

Brandi Redick said she struggled and felt like she was behind when she got to higher education, which is why she chose this school for her daughter.

"I wanted to make sure my daughter didn't have that feeling of being in a race," Brandi said. "Which is why I chose From the Heart Preschool."

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