The program itself was a first for community colleges in Kansas and now one of its participants is the first in Great Bend to fulfill its requirements.Monica Gonzalez is the first person locally to earn the Child Development Associate “home visitor” designation through a work-study program co-sponsored by Sunflower’s Early Education Center and Barton Community College. Gonzalez is an EEC early intervention specialist for children age birth through 3.“Earning this CDA is a nice honor and adds to the important things I have learned here at the EEC and in my college courses,” Gonzalez said. “This process has allowed me to reflect on all that I have studied in early intervention, while applying it to the children with developmental delays and disabilities that I serve.“It was a lot of work but well worth it,” she added.