04 Sep Humans of Head Start: Kathy
“They told me out of all 10 county areas and Central Office I’ve been here longer than anybody! I am proud and I’ve loved Head Start, we’ve gone through so many changes through the years, there’s been lots of improvement, it always seems to be going forward and we’ve learned so much. I had never had any experience when I started, but Head Start taught me so much through our trainings. When the mandate came down that we had to have a degree, that was very difficult for me, I was 60 when I graduated. I said ‘the trainings I got at Head Start by far were better than college’!
We have families that I’ve become very good friends with, and staff. Some of the older employees, that are all retired now, we get together once in the summer for a week, and we rent a cabin, and we have the best time! So I’ve made some lifelong friends at Head Start. I’ve had a lot of loss in my family, and Head Start was there to support me with that all the way. I’ve always been blessed to have great staff. My first TA, she was my teacher assistant for 37 years! And then Jackie has been here forever, Macy is on her journey, she’s been here for 5 years. Everybody works together, we are a team, that makes a big difference. You can tell in the atmosphere of the classroom. Above all we like to have fun, and if you can have fun, it’s pleasant for kids, and it’s pleasant for us. I’ve always told my team, I would never ask you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself.
Head Start got in my blood, I have so enjoyed the kids, it’s just incredible how innocent and funny they can be and just think nothing about it, I love that. I know years ago the whole agency started using the Mr. Pazoo puppet, everybody got a set, it had wonderful language activities. Used to be, when I first started, I wouldn’t use a puppet if there was anybody here, no amount of money. But I started using Pazoo and they loved him, they would be so excited, they’d hold up information so that when he came they wanted to tell him all this and it was just incredible to watch. Even after we stopped using it, I’ve got one boy, he’s a butcher now at Country Mart and he’ll say “Does Mr. Pazoo still come?” So I’m going to bring him back. That’s what they need, they need something that’s fun that’ll hold their interest, that they can interact with. So I’m going to start using him again. I’m on like the 3rd generation of kids, I’ve had their Mom and Dad in here, so it’s amazing what they remember about Head Start, it was that impactful in their life. That makes me feel successful, that it did make a difference and they remember that.” – Kathy Brown
