I found it a pleasure to work in Head Start. I learned as the students learned. The job provided me with my first experience in developing and using leadership skills with others.
– Annette Holliday Fulton Cornish, retired Head Start teacher, director, and administrator, New Castle, DE
I am one of Delaware's first Head Start teachers. I worked in the first Head Start six-week pilot program in Wilmington, DE, in 1965 during the summer. I then became head teacher in the six-month program located in one room at an elementary school in January 1966. I then went on to attend the first Head Start Training Program for head teachers, during the summer of 1966, at Hood College in Frederick, MD.
I became director of the first full year Head Start program located in the Marshallton Elementary School in Wilmington, DE, in September 1966 to June 1967. There, I had three classrooms and a secretary. Each class room had a teacher and one aid with 21 students.
I am now a retired educator of 42 years—working with other people's children and giving them much tough love. This all started with Head Start and lasted all the way to college level, as I demonstrated the ways and means to learn, make decisions, demonstrate proper behavior at all times, and work with others. I also showed children how to show respect for themselves and others, how to follow directions, the importance of being a good listener, and how to explore and experience food for the betterment of growth. This is what my Head Starters and their parents learned. I found it a pleasure to work in Head Start. I learned as the students learned. The job provided me with my first experience in developing and using leadership skills with others. Thank you Head Start!