Head Start to Harvard: A New America Story

As federal agencies prepare for a possible government shutdown at midnight tonight, it’s unclear if members of Congress have given much thought to the implications of pulling the plug on virtually all federal programs. In fact, over the past several years and in the midst of continual budget debates – over spending and deficits and debts and across-the-board cuts – this isn’t the first time lawmakers have lost sight of the people behind the programs they fund.

Last week, the New America Foundation’s Media Relations Associate, Jenny Lu Mallamo, brought the debate back down to earth with a reminiscence of her time in a Lincoln, Nebraska Head Start program more than 20 years ago. Her parents, Chinese immigrants who didn’t speak English as their primary language, relied on the in-school and at-home services that Head Start provided the family to help Jenny catch up to her preschool-aged peers. Jenny writes,

In my case, without Ms. Cathy’s patient one-on-one instruction and out-of-class tutoring, I surely would have started kindergarten behind my peers from higher-income homes that spoke English as a first language.  My parents would not have received the additional benefit of sitting in on basic English classes.

To my parents and my teacher’s delight, I thrived in the classroom setting. Confident in my new vocabulary, I began to come out of my shell and started speaking up and asking questions. By the end of my year in Head Start, I had served as a line leader at lunch and delivered the morning weather report to my fellow classmates.

I can’t speak for how things turned out for the other eight kids who were in my Head Start class of 1990, but I was fortunate to have received the extra attention. It placed me on a road that eventually led to a college scholarship and a rewarding graduate school experience. I am proud to be a Head Start alum who became a Harvard graduate.

Jenny’s story is just one of many published in The Weekly Wonk, a new digital magazine and podcast from the New America Foundation. Click here to check out the latest edition, published each Thursday.