When we moved into our Head Start space behind the local church, I remember how parents and children worked together to get the playground ready by raking, painting equipment, and pulling weeds. It sent a message that Head Start was our place and we were all in it together.
I loved singing. One of my favorite songs was Vas Comorado, which is a song I’ve taught my own children.
Seeing plays at the South Broadway Cultural Center is a favorite memory. I remember being surprised after leaving the theatre and seeing the sunshine outside. I was so wrapped up in the performances and stories, I lost all track of time and place and was surprised to find it was the same day and place after ward.
I remember my Mom and Dad volunteering and how proud I was of them when they came to visit my sister and I at school.
We put on a production of “The Night Before Christmas,” where I was a sugar plum fairy. I still have the purple hippo puppet that was given to me as a gift from my Head Start teachers.
At Head Start, I was told by Karen and Mela, my teachers, that I mattered and I believed them. I was taught that my parents, community, and friends mattered. I believe that too.
We worked a lot in groups and learned the importance of everyone’s voice and collaboration. I have a job today where understanding and using those principles is a key part of my success.
Head Start led my sister and I toward a passion for school and it built my Mom’s confidence. I know that in some of the early jobs she applied to that she used her volunteer experience at Head Start on her resume.
I don’t know… There were so many chances to take the low road and so many barriers that would have made it easier to give up. Throughout my life I was able to find people within my family and community to support me in achieving my dreams.
Throughout my life I was able to find people within my family and community to support me in achieving my dreams and I know that Head Start explicitly reinforced those values and practices.
It is interesting to note that my brothers, who did not have the access to Head Start that my sister and I benefited from, had greater struggles with school, negative influences in our community, and greater challenges on into adulthood. While things are much better for them today, I wonder what their journey would have been like if they would have had something like Head Start that was so powerfully important to me. We were raised by the same parents and in the same communities attending Head Start was probably one of the biggest differences in our upbringing. Is there a causal relationship? I couldn’t prove it, but I suspect it made a HUGE difference.
