CHICO PRESCHOOL OPENS, PROVIDING INFANT CARE

Children can enroll until they’re ready for kindergarten

A life-changing event, a severe need and an old friendship all came together as factors in the formation of a Chico preschool and child-care center.

Shiny and new, and only in its second week of operation, Acorns to Oaks Preschool and Daycare at 2452 Tom Polk Ave. is the culmination of plenty of hard work, planning and waiting … and waiting.

First, the friendship: co-owners Erica Metzen and Shannon Sivadon have known each other since 1998, when Sivadon moved to Chico and Metzen befriended her. Sivadon opened a home-based childcare business — also called Acorns to Oaks — and, naturally, Metzen enrolled her son, Paul, shortly after he was born in 2021.

Metzen, a Chico native, earned her degree in Liberal Studies from Chico State University in 2009, but realized it wasn’t a field she wanted to pursue as a career. That led her to work

in the banking industry until what she called a “major, life-changing event” occurred — and her husband urged her to quit that job.

Sivadon, meanwhile, brings 15 years of experience in child care, with a stint at Beyond Fitness athletic club in Paradise, which burned in 2018’s Camp Fire. She conducted her home business until December, as she and Metzen focused entirely on opening the current place,

whose first day of business was March 6.

“I approached Shannon in summer 2021 about the possibility of going bigger,” Metzen said, and Sivadon responded by telling her that had been her dream. So the process began, and Metzen’s husband, who owned other real estate in Chico, joined the effort. They began seeking a suitable facility for the business and decided on the two-building complex they

now occupy, which until recently had an address of 555 East Ave.

The property housed an accountancy firm for many years, but after the CPAs left, it had variously been home to a real estate office, an adoption agency and a massage parlor.

After closing on the purchase in December 2021, the new owners hired an architect for remodeling plans

PHOTOS BY ED BOOTH — ENTERPRISE-RECORD Paul Metzen, 22months, enjoys a midmorning snack at Acorns to Oaks Preschool and Daycare while infants attendant Rachael Kitts looks on Tuesday in Chico.

Co-owner Shannon Sivadon points to a woodlands-themed mural by Chico artist Christine McShane in the infants room Tuesday at Acorns to Oaks Preschool and Daycare in Chico.