Her Head Start colleagues consider Cathy Arentsen a champion for early childhood education and her team — a leader as comfortable sharing a book with students in the classroom as she was helping architect the collaborative, newly-renovated “Community Early Learning Center” in Appleton.
“She encouraged staff and parents to pursue educational opportunities and many have attained certificates or degrees as a result of her encouragement,” University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Head Start program friends and colleagues state in a reflection that accompanies Arentsen’s recent obituary. “She allowed us to live our dreams, whether it was traveling the world, spending more time with family or trying something new.”
Arentsen, 65, passed away on Nov. 15. She had served as the executive director of Head Start at the UW Oshkosh for five years, also serving as an adjunct professor at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN.
“Her personal life and career were dedicated to the improving of early childhood educational opportunities, caring for the elderly and providing advocacy for families in need,” Arensten’s Stevens Point Journal obituary states. “She loved spending time in her vegetable and flower gardens and tooling around on one of her two John Deere tractors. The changing seasons provided great joy and the first snow of winter meant another season of snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and splitting and hauling wood to strike a fire in the living room stove.”
Services for Arentsen will be held on Dec. 6 at 1 p.m. at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn and Convention Center, 1001 Amber Ave, Stevens Point, with “an informal luncheon to greet and gather followed by a short service at 2:30 p.m. for people to share memories of Cathy,” her obituary states.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to the House of Hope Foundation, Inc., N6040 Webers Point Court, Shawano, WI 54166, “a very special charity of hers, or a charity of your choice.”
Head Start is also letting family, friends and colleagues know that donations in memory of Arentsen can made to a scholarship fund being developed with Wisconsin Head Start Association (WHSA). Gifts may be sent to UW Oshkosh Head Start, Kelly Butzlaff/WHSA 515 E. Parkway, Oshkosh, WI 54901.
The Head Start program serves more than 600 children annually in Calumet, Outagamie, Shawano and Winnebago Counties. At the recently-renovated and dedicated Community Early Learning Center (CELC) in Appleton, Head Start serves almost 200 children.
The program’s childhood and family development efforts focus on school readiness with an emphasis on the total child and provides opportunities supporting cognitive, physical, social and emotional development. The high-quality, five-star program provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition and parent support and engagement opportunities to eligible children and their families.
Arentsen’s colleagues credit her dedication with helping take the UW Oshkosh-connected program to a new level of quality and support, “securing funding for increasing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and nutrient-dense foods into our meals” while “updating our centers, classrooms and office areas.”
“Cathy came to a very good program and made it great,” Head Start leaders shared in their statement.
“Cathy was committed to teaching and quality early childhood education. Her efforts supported our pursuit of excellence. We renewed our commitment to the High Scope curriculum, embraced assessment and data and enhanced teacher-child interactions. Cathy loved visiting classrooms, connecting with the children and sharing a favorite book. Planning and opening the Community Early Learning Center (CELC) in Appleton was greatly influenced by Cathy’s unending pursuit of quality early childhood environments, meeting the needs of staff and families, and contributing to the community as a whole.”
The CELC houses five different not-for-profit and public organizations under one roof to serve children from birth to five years old in the Fox River Valley and beyond: Appleton Area School District’s Birth to Five programs, Even Start Family Literacy, Outagamie County Early Intervention, Project Bridges Day Care, and UW Oshkosh Head Start.
“Cathy had a vision that made us better and stronger than we ever thought we could be,” her colleagues stated. “She restructured leadership, averted financial struggles and programmatic challenges and renewed our focus on the comprehensive work of our program. She did so with a spirited ambitious style while always modeling compassion and flexibility.”
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