Alumni Gather to Celebrate the Season, Support Worthy Cause

The coronavirus pandemic was difficult for young families for many reasons, not the least of which was isolation. When Rubio and Edith Gonzalez’s daughter was born, she started life without playmates and that worried her parents.

“Being born during COVID, my daughter wasn’t able to have a lot of social interaction from playing with other kids her age,” Rubio said. “Families just stayed indoors all the time.”

But the family learned about Play with Me from friends and soon joined the playful-learning program for children up to age 3 and their parents at the Center for Children and Families (CCF). They saw a difference in their daughter right away.

“Being around other kids, she began to develop social skills,” Rubio said.

This month, Rubio, his wife and their 1-year-old son joined other families from the program at the annual Santa Sighting event. A portion of each ticket supported the CCF program, a tradition started in 2023.

“It’s been such a fun partnership with CCF and the Play With Me program,” said Brennae Wright, senior director of UT Dallas Alumni. “Santa Sighting is a wonderful community event that offers a fun and memorable holiday experience for all community and alumni families who attend.”

Play With Me is an outreach learning program that fosters a supportive environment promoting child development and strong parent-child relationships. And the program relies on UT Dallas students studying child development who work with program participants and their parents, thus providing actual hands-on training.

“We have a fantastic group of students who work with our kids,” said Rachel Berglund, CCF associate director. “These are students who are studying child learning and development, psychology and speech language development, so they have an interest in working with kids and the program gives them training experiences they wouldn’t normally get as undergraduates.”

Rubio and his wife have now enrolled their son in Play With Me and recognize the benefit of him interacting with other kids his age.

“He was actually a late walker but after we started the program, he saw kids walking and crawling and for him it was a case of see and do,” Rubio said. “It made a big difference for him.”

This year’s Santa Sighting provided opportunities for attendees to interact with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Grinch and participate in activities like face painting and crafts. UTD student volunteers from the center also assisted with the event — one of the largest UTD Alumni events of the year.

“Over the years we’ve been able to grow attendance and showcase alumni-owned businesses and partnerships,” Wright said. “Being able to connect our attendees with the mission of CCF in a very visible way showcases the importance and purpose of our programming and allows attendees to see the impact of their giving.”