Susan Beier of Lewiston, Idaho, the Health and Nutrition Coordinator for Lewis-Clark Early Childhood Program, attributes her family’s direction in life to Head Start.

A single mother of four in 1985, Susan remembers the way her children’s Head Start program in Idaho Falls focused her children on learning. Her two youngest sons have become Emergency Medical Technicians, and are both pre-med students. Susan remembers how Head Start nurtured her boys’ interest in medicine by providing field trips to doctors’ offices, hospitals, and promoted their imaginative play in “career settings;” the “doctor’s office” was a favorite.

Most importantly, she gives Head Start credit for developing a love of literacy in her family as her Family Advocate with the program encouraged Susan to institute a family reading time as one of her goals. Susan herself went on to obtain a degree in psychology and another in early childhood education so that she herself could work in the Head Start Program.

Looking back, Susan appreciates the total support her Head Start program gave her at a difficult time in life. “Not only did Head Start focus on my kids, but they helped me focus on where I wanted to go with my life. They were my life saver.” She writes, “As with many parents, I wanted the best for my children and the Head Start staff did everything in their power to help me work for and achieve these goals.”