(En inglés)
#GetaHeadStart: Bonnie St. John
[Music]
Bonnie St. John: People think of me as an Olympic skier and a Harvard, Oxford, Rhodes Scholar graduate. I was a White House official on the economic team. I've worked on Wall Street. People think of all the great things I've done, but most people don't know where I started.
I grew up in San Diego near the Mexican border. There were gangs. It was a difficult area to live in. My father left before I was born. My mom was a single mom struggling with three kids. And I had to have my leg amputated when I was 5 years old due to a birth defect. Before that, I was in braces. It was really hard.
Head Start gave me that feeling of goodness. I just remember it being a happy memory and a safe place. And that was certainly a turning point for me to be able to decide I want a better life.
A friend of mine from school invited me to go skiing with her family. And it was really hard. I fell and I fell. I was bruised all over. But I loved it and started racing. I qualified for the 1984 paralympic ski team. I was the second fastest woman in the world on one leg and the first African-American to win medals in Winter Olympics, period.
With everything I've achieved, Head Start was so important to me because it was a first step in the right direction.
Narrator: For information about Head Start programs in your area, please visit acf.hhs.gov/HeadStart. #GetaHeadStart. Produced in 2016 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Desde los Juegos Olímpicos hasta Oxford y desde Wall Street hasta la Casa Blanca, Bonnie St. John lo ha hecho todo. Escúchela hablar sobre cómo comenzó en Head Start (video en inglés).
