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Contact: Jennifer Anderson (andersonj@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
10/17/2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES-The Northwestern State University Head Start Program will be hosting an open house Oct. 22 to Oct. 26 for National Head Start Awareness Week. Anyone in the community of Natchitoches and Northwestern are invited to see the benefits of the program first-hand.
The program is designed for Northwestern students who have children. Head Start is free to students who qualify according to federal Head Start Guildelines. It is part of a national program for low-income families.
"Our program is a quality program all the time, " said Debra Jo Hailey, center supervisor and head teacher at the Head Start Center. "We are here to educate children, not just baby-sit. I want the community to see what we do on an everyday basis."
The program is a comprehensive program, meaning children not only get an education, they receive health care including dental care, immunizations, physicals as well as ear and eye screenings.
Parents are also educated through outreach programs and are encouraged to volunteer.
The Head Start teachers take a holistic approach to education. They look at mental health, as well as social, physical and cognitive development.
The facility has two full-time teachers, Hailey and Pat Alexander, and two teacher assistants, Rose Matthews and Mary Paige. The program is a lab facility used by early childhood education majors for internships and education graduate students for student teaching. Students can also volunteer.
The Head Start Program has been available on NSU's campus for seven years thanks to Patricia Taylor, director of Natchitoches and DeSoto parish Head Starts and Cheryl McBride, director of NSU's Marie Shaw Dunn Child Development Center. The facility at Northwestern was the first Head Start on any college campus and is administered through the Natchitoches Parish Police Jury Office of Community Services.
Garland O. Smith, Family Services coordinator is implementing a literacy program for male role models of children in the Head Start facility as part of the Head Start Family Enrichment Program.
"An important part of the program is to involve dads," said Smith. "Children need a male role model. So it is good to incorporate them into the program."
For more information on Northwestern's Head Start program, Contact the Office of Community Service Head Start at (318) 357-2213 or NSU Head Start at (318)357-0888.