HOOPESTON — Barbara McVicker, a former Rossville resident, returned home recently from an island paradise in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, to visit with family and friends.

She and her husband, Kenny, live there.

“We have always wanted to retire on an island, and one year ago, we vacationed at St. Croix and fell in love with the island. It is a U.S.-owned island and since we were not ready to retire and there were employment opportunities here, it was the perfect place,” Barbara said. “Life is very different here, but you are living each day in paradise.”

The visit coincided with McVicker’s lectures for the recent Child Care Resource workshops to be presented in the area. She owned a preschool, Miss Barbara’s Schoolhouse, in Hoopeston for eight years. When she moved to the Virgin Islands, she closed the school.

“She was here during the children’s Summer Reading Club hour,” said Janelle Sechriest, Hoopeston Public Library aide. The theme for the summer reading club was “Read on the Wild Side,” which a visit from a St. Croix resident made a perfect fit.

In addition to reading, writing, and math, McVicker and her staff taught English, Spanish and Japanese languages to the children, broadening the students’ minds with lessons of different world cultures through speakers from different countries to Hoopeston.

“I am so thankful that I learned about many different cultures and used that in my preschool in Hoopeston,” McVicker said. “It has definitely prepared me for here. There are many, many cultures here.”

In regard to teaching, she added, “Some things are the same, but others are quite different. For instance, they teach about island life, oceans, hurricanes, etc.”

McVicker moved to St. Croix in August 2008 and substitute taught at Good Hope School in Fredriksted and the AZ Academy in Christiansted, both pre-K to 12 grade schools. When a position opened at the AZ Academy for a part-time preschool teacher and for the after-school program, McVicker accepted it.

The AZ Academy is a private school for students with a broad range of learning. Students range from those with learning disabilities and attention disorders to advanced students who need accelerated learning opportunities. Classes for students through the sixth grade are limited to about 10 students, according to the school history. In the fall, McVicker will begin a new job teaching kindergarten at St. Patrick’s School in Frederiksted, a school built in the 1840s.

McVicker, a Rossville native and alum, graduated with honors from Danville Area Community College with an associate’s degree in early childhood and has continued her education through classes and workshops in child care and development. Fur-ther education, she said, will be online in order to receive a bachelor’s in elementary education.

Husband Kenny works as a full-time electrician on the island. Because the McVickers are caretakers of property on the Virgin Islands from April to November, he remained on the island this trip.

The Virgin Islands is only 25 miles long and 5 miles wide — or the distance from Hoopeston to Danville’s downtown.

When asked if this was a permanent move for the McVicker family, McVicker said, “Yes ... we miss family and friends, but it is wonderful here and now it is difficult to imagine being anyplace else. Each day is a new adventure here.”

FYI

To contact Barbara McVicker for more information and photos of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, go to her Web site at http://www.missbarb.com .