#GetaHeadStart: Loretta Sanchez
[Music]
Loretta Sanchez: Oh, I believe that Head Start has been incredibly important to my life. My parents are both immigrants from Mexico. They had seven children. When I was a child, I was very enclosed in my own little cocoon of what my world was. Head Start enabled me to see that there was a much bigger world. I just absolutely loved it. I learned my letters. I learned to speak. I learned how to write my name. I have such vivid memories.
You know, Head Start not only works on the kid, it works with the parents. My mother learned how to be assertive on behalf of her children because I was in Head Start. I have very strong parents who really believed in education. They taught me, mostly through example, that you can be whatever you want to be.
I was working on some education issues. I went to talk to my member of Congress, and he refused to meet with me. I went home that night, and I said to family “I'm going to run for Congress.” And I did, and I won.
The future of what the world holds is really in the hands of the young people who are currently in Head Start or about to start Head Start.
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.
The daughter of immigrants, former U.S. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez says the Head Start program was an important part of her and her parents’ development. The program taught her the alphabet, how to speak, and how to write her name. Listen to Congresswoman Sanchez speak about her experience.
