Our Staff

Amy (and Wallace)

Hi Everyone! I'm Amy, the owner/operator/CEO/co-licensee of Child Central Station. 

I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Training, Development, and Humand Performance Improvement. I earned both of my degrees at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. 

Dane

Dane grew up at Child Central Station and now works here around his school schedule. 

Dane graduated high school in 2021 and currently attends Bay College.


Allan

Allan is the co-owner and operator at Child Central Station Group Home. He joined the family business back in 2005 to spend more time with his family.

Allan graduated from Northern Michigan University with a triple major in Psychology, Sociology and History. 

We also have a number of staff who work at our sister program, Child Central Station, LLC who may on occassion help out at our home program. 

More About Us

Welcome to our little corner of cyberspace for Child Central Station, Group Home Child Care Program.  I'm Amy Ahola and a co-licensee for our program. My husband Allan and I run our home based program together. He is the rock that keeps our program running!

In addition to our home based program, I also collaborate with the Marquette Area Public Schools and our sister business, Child Central Station, LLC to run two before and after school programs at the Sandy Knoll and Superior Hills Elementary Schools.  In my "spare" time I also travel to present educational training sessions, consult, and prepare workshops for early childhood professionals, parents, and anyone who cares for or works with young children.

As a family, we love to play and have fun! Allan, Dane, and I are true partners in play! Our program started in 2005 when I wanted to find a way to stay home with Dane.  (He was two, almost three at the time and I wasn't ready to leave him to work outside of the home.) Prior to opening our own program, I worked in a center for 4 years and had various experiences working for two years in the public school system.

I have been a voluteer with a number of organizations that cater to the development of youth and the adults that work with them, including The Upper Peninsula Early Childhood Conference Committee, AmeriCorps, Scouts BSA, Partner's Institute, Coalition to Create Community Change, and 4-H. 

I love to collaborate and work with other professionals who are passionate about early childhood education. 

Prior to working here with me, Allan worked in the hotel and restaurant industry for many years. He is our personal chef! In addition to being an amazing cook, he helps keep our program running while Ms. Amy is juggling our various programs.  He loves to metal detect and is a pretty serious rock hound in his "spare" time.  Mr Allan is originally from Denmark and he keeps us on our toes with his Scandinavian wit! He also speaks multiple languages that he shares with the children. 

Dane is currently studying at Bay College while he works the family business. He is an avid artist, video gamer, and Pokemon TCG collector/player.  Dane never lost his 4-year-old obsession with dinosaurs and enjoys sharing his dino knowledge with the children. He isn't quite sure what he wants to do when he grows up, but for now he enjoys holding onto his youth by spending his days playing with our crazy crew at Child Central Station! 

When we are not busy working,  our favorite thing to do as a family is travel! We spend our time off visiting with family and traveling to various places to prospect for rocks, minerals, and fossils. If you are interested in our road trips, you can check out our vacation blog by clicking here. 

Wallace and Flovis

In July of 2022 our home grew by 8 fury feet when we brought Wallace and Flovis home! These boys were raised around children and are fabulous additions to our program.   They love to let us know when someone is coming or going, and are great snugglers. We do tend to give them separate space from the children most of the time to respect both them and the children.