A new business helping address childcare needs in the City of Stuart opened its doors Monday.

The Exploration & Learning Station is a childcare center for those six weeks to five years old located at 116 North Division Street and is owned by Alicia Geil. Geil has lived most of her life in the Stuart area, and was previously a licensed in-home daycare provider for two years, and worked as a special education teacher at Stuart Elementary six years prior to that. As Geil saw a great need for childcare in the area, she started working towards opening her own facility a year ago, and with some financial planning assistance from the Stuart Enterprise for Economic Development she purchased and renovated the former office space into the Exploration & Learning Station, for which she explains the namesake, “I chose that name because I really want to encompass what we do here. Obviously small children play, explore, and they learn so much from that. But I want parents to know that this isn’t just a free-for-all that kids are playing, running around all day, that there is a learning component. I’m very educationally based with my background so I want to make sure that kids are on the right track for school.”

Geil currently has 20 children enrolled in the center, with open spots in the three to four year old age group. For more information you can contact Geil at explorationlearningstation@gmail.com.