“I suppose all my life I must have dreamed of a school of my own, the signs were all there. I used to gather all the children in my neighborhood and play school with them.”, said Leika Collins in a 1981 article published by The Selma Times-Journal.  Her dream became a reality in 1943 after the mother of one of her Sunday School students asked why Collins didn’t start a kindergarten for young families pouring into Craig Air Force Base.  Soon thereafter, the school opened at 100 Lamar Avenue in an enclosed back porch with an iron stove, two small tables, and 12 children. For the next 44 years, she faithfully operated her one room school from her home.  In 1987, Leika moved the school to her church, Church Street United Methodist Church.  Along with the church’s recently completed educational building, the Leika’s School program was expanded, laying the foundation as it remains today.