Head Start awards local ‘parent of the year’

One local woman is being recognized nationally for being nominated as the Head Start Parent of the Year.

But the award goes beyond the classroom for Chubbuck mom Luciane Chase.

Chase was nominated for the award because she not only spent countless volunteer hours in the classroom and community, but because she also made huge strides at home to make sure her kids are well-prepared for school before even entering kindergarten.

“I received the letter saying I was nominated for this award and I said, ‘oh, that’s cool – I don’t know what that means, but that’s cool,'” Chase laughed.

But it wasn’t the small-scale award she thought it was.

She not only won the award for the local, state and regional title, but was even a runner-up on the national level.

“I never would have imagined the small award I was thinking of to be so big,” Chase added.

Chase’s son has autism and so she thought she would sign him up for the Head Start program to see how it could help prepare him both academically and socially before he enters his school years.

But then she quickly realized she was getting more than what she bargained for, learning the program was also helping her as a parent to better understand the disability and how she could help prepare him at home.

“I thought it was important to (get involved) so I could learn a lot and it helped me to help my kids,” she added. “There are times where the program even teaches me what sorts of foods to cook and the whole experience has made for a very happy, healthy family.”

When Chase moved to the United States from Brazil, she not only had to learn English, but also what foods to cut out of her family’s diet in order to help her son stay alert and concentrate better.

After changing the whole family’s diet to parallel her son’s needs, she realized the whole family benefited from nixing grains and sugars from their meals and she makes her kids organic lunches and snacks every morning to send to school with them.

Head Start coordinator Cathy Brey said this is the 50th year the program has been active in the Pocatello-Chubbuck school district and is now up to 186 students who are enrolled.

However, she said she would like to see the program expand, but with a tight federal budget, there just isn’t enough money to help keep Head Start growing.

Brey said the program is a significant part of a child’s early learning years, and statistics show kids who are part of the program tend to perform better later in life.

“Teachers will recognize children who have gone through Head Start because, not only do they have the skill set necessary academically, but they also have the experience and social skills,” Brey said.

She added, Head Start has been a long partner with parents whose children are enrolled in the program since they believe learning starts at home.

Brey said this year three locals won national awards through the National Head Start Association, which is extremely rare.