NORMAL - The hardest part of being a Heartland Community College student for Rhonda Stevenson in the mid-1990s was finding child care for her four young children. When she visited the college at the first Back to the Nest alumni event on Saturday, Stevenson took pride in seeing the new child-care facilities. | Construction in full swing at Heartland | Photo gallery

"When I filled out a survey, I said they needed a child-care center. It's exciting to feel that I played a small part in this," she said as toured the community college campus, with special attention to the 19,600-square-foot Child Development Lab.

Stevenson said she would take a bus to get her children to daycare and then walk to school. She graduated in 1995 from Heartland when it was located on Towanda Avenue and went on to get a degree in social work at Illinois State University.

Stevenson, her husband, Roderick, and children, Thurman and Thurston, 17, Desiree, 15, and Dominique, 13, who was born when she was a Heartland student, visited the school together Saturday. The twins hope to attend the college next year and later further their education at a university, Rhonda Stevenson said.

Dozens of people took tours, visited booths, and listened to live entertainment at the Back to the Nest event to celebrate the new Alumni Association and the official opening of the Child Development Lab.

The lab, which first opened to infants, toddlers and preschoolers in February, includes a classroom for college students, six classrooms for youngsters, outdoor playgrounds, a meeting area for parents, a kitchen and a variety of workspaces.

For indoor play, the facility also boasts a large sunroom outfitted with padded floors and toys.

"We're very lucky to have this facility to work in," said Darlene Wills, director of the Childhood Development Lab.

Bridget Flynn contributed to this story.