Saint Mary Villa Child Development Center celebrated Read Across America week, a week dedicated to encouraging literacy and educating young people and families about the benefits of reading. Gnash, the Predators mascot, Titans cheerleader Kinley and T-Rac, the Titans mascot were among the visitors to the Saint Mary Villa who shared the gift of reading and promoted the importance of access to books with St. Mary Villa students.
In addition to Nashville’s favorite mascots, Hal Cato, CEO at the Community Foundation, Erica Mitchell, CEO at the United Way, and Pamela Sessions, CEO at Renewal House, joined several Saint Mary Villa Board members throughout the week to read with our students and to enjoy time promoting literacy.
Highlighting and promoting literacy to all students is a key component of a well-rounded early education at any school, but especially at St. Mary Villa. The school’s literacy curriculum, through Read to Succeed with United Way, is a comprehensive early childhood learning model that focuses on building literacy and social-emotional skills for Nashville’s most at-risk preschoolers. With this curriculum, St. Mary Villa students learn how to express their feelings and emotions while creating a foundation for language development, self-control and self-confidence.
Saint Mary Villa, founded in 1863 as Saint Mary Orphanage and operated continuously in Nashville ever since, is a three-star rated (the highest in Tennessee) early education center that serves more than 170 infants and children through PreK. A second center on the Renewal House campus at 3600 Clarksville Pike will open in Fall 2025 with 75 students and will expand to 100 within the first year. Two additional centers will open in 2026.
At St. Mary Villa, we believe in celebrating diversity and each child’s differences, and believe that every child deserves to learn, play and grow in a positive environment regardless of their families’ financial situation, which is why our tuition is based on a sliding scale with our monthly fees determined by a schedule based on annual household income (AHI). Visit stmaryvilla.org for more information.
