Adrianna Ortiz, 16, sits under a tree in a corner of Southwest High School talking with her teacher, Gloria Fortina, about her upcoming performance.

  About 15 minutes later she’s in front of two adult judges bring­ing “Five Little Speckle Frogs,” a children’s book, to life through song.

  Ortiz, who attends Brawley Union High School in Brawley, is one of about 30 local high school students who participated in child development com­petitions during the 12th annual Early Childhood Education Conference at Southwest High School on Saturday. Aside from the com­petition, the conference had 24 workshops in both English and Spanish on topics such as teaching techniques, discipline, the business aspect of childcare facil­ities, language develop­ment, and several oth­ers.

  The conference drew about 450 attendees rep­resenting preschools, family child-care cen­ters, kindergartens and after-school programs.

  The Valley has 82 child-care centers and 325 family child-care providers, said event organizer Heather Vessey-Garcia, who works at the Imperial County Office of Education’s Child Development Services.

  The event has grown every year, Vessey­Garcia said.
  “There is a willing­ness to learn here. I think because we’re a small community people care about their com­munity,” Vessey-Garcia said.

  Two years ago the event was moved from Imperial Valley College to Southwest High School for the added room.

  Before the move, Saturday courses at IVC were being disrupted by the volume of attendees, Vessey-Garcia said.

  For the 30 or so stu­dents competing, educa­tion is the key. They are all enrolled in a child-development course through the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program. For taking part in the course students have the opportu­nity to take a test and, if they pass it, get credit for an introduction course in child development at IVC.

  “This is one of the few classes articulated by IVC in the Valley,” said Fortina, who has been teaching at Brawley Union High School for 20 years.

  The students competing at the conference were whittled down from about 70 at Brawley Union High, Calexico High School and Central Union High School. The three schools are the only ones with IVROP’s early childhood develop­ment course. For Ortiz, the competi­tion went well.

  “I think I did pretty well,” she said, still wearing fairy wings she used in the reading, “I think it’s better around adults because yes­terday I tried it with kids and they’re a tough crowd.”

  >> Staff Writer José María Guijarro can be reached at 337-3442 or jguijar­ro@ ivpressonline.com