When I was in high school, I had a year-long internship (that was unpaid, but counted for school credit) at a Head Start program in Harrisburg, PA. A Head Start program is a program within the US Department of Health and Human Services that works to provide education, nutrition, parental involvement, and more to low-income families. My program was named Capital Area Head Start, which was a sub-program within Keystone Human Services.
Every weekday for the entirety of my senior year, I traveled to Harrisburg where I spent roughly two hours assisting with miscellaneous work around the school. The children ranged between ages 3-5 and they were such a joy to grow relationships with. I taught morning lessons to the kids, I set up breakfast, or I would even spend time with our social workers performing home visits.
These visits were particularly memorable to me because I was able to see first-hand what the home lives of some of our students looked like. I would tag along with the program’s social workers and the student’s teacher and observe how these visits went. The school staff would often ask questions to the parents about their financial situation, how they are doing emotionally, if they are satisfied with food and clothing, goals for the future, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised with how casual these visits were. The family would often welcome us into their home and ensure that we were comfortable by offering food and refreshments, as well as a comfortable place to sit and talk on their sofa. This allowed me to get to know the families on an intimate level, and it encouraged honest and trusted communication between the staff and the families.
I think that there is often a misconception that low-income families may be unwelcoming to visitors because they feel their home is unequipped for the public eye. Prior to my senior year of high school, I often assumed that these families were the ones that were constantly busy trying to work hard and grow their income, so much so that they did not make the time to build relationships with people outside of their families. After my experience with these home visits, I realized that my presumption could not be more wrong.
There is one family in particular that I still keep in touch with to this day. They are from Nepal and they love to invite me over and make me their authentic Nepalese food. They always ask about how I am doing, and I never feel as though I am forgotten. I will now forever hold a special place in my heart for families that are struggling financially because of my experiences with these kids and families. My time at Head Start taught me that poverty is more apparent in the United States than I ever could have imagined, and it is important to keep these individuals in mind.
Thank you.
The amount of time you dedicated to being a part of this program is incredible. I admire being up for traveling just to give up your own time, especially on the weekends. I guarantee this is an experience that you will carry with you forever 🙂
I loved the amount of detail that you presented about the progema is showed how much care you had for the program and for the people as well with yourself giving up your time and spending time with other families instead which showed the willingness to learn more about other people. Overall I liked reading this because it reminded me about the time I did something similar for my unpaid internship yes you don’t get any money but you truly do learn a lot.
This is a really sweet story and sounds like an amazing program. I would have loved to have participated in something like this during my senior year. I like that even though you had made assumptions about people (like everyone does) you were able to shift your perspective and even form a new relationship that you still have today. There is no doubt you definitely made a difference in some of those kids/families’ lives.