Virginia B. Higbee

Virginia HigbeeDirectorUtah Head Start AssociationSUU Box 8985Cedar City, UT 84720435-586-6070 x201435-586-5232Higbee u@suu.edu

The federally-funded school readiness program for three-to-five-year olds was first made possible from a grant written by Virginia Higbee in 1983.She has served as the executive director since that time and encourages the public to attend a celebratory open house to learn how the program operates.

"The most beneficial things about Head Start are that it really prepares children, not just for school, or for kindergarten, but for the challenges they will meet in life," Higbee said.
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Experiences like that instill a love for learning and help children and parents connect to one another -- the main purpose of Head Start -- Higbee said.

"Head Start is so much more than just a place to drop off your kids," she said."It is even much more than just an educational piece...We feel we are doing valuable things in teaching the love of learning."

Parents play an important roll but so do teachers -- mostly SUU graduates -- and interns from the university who are seeking degrees in nursing, social work, child development, and elementary education, Higbee said.
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Higbee said the U.S. Census showed Iron County to have a 7 percent ethnic population while Head Start has 20 percent with Hispanic, Korean, Japanese, Mexican and Native American children enrolled.

That factor has created advantages for disadvantaged children and additionally makes for unique cultural experiences for all the students, broadening their learning abilities even more, Higbee said.

"By the end of the year, we have kids in the program going home and translating for their parents who don't speak any English," she said.

The trustees also unanimously approved SUU Head Start's 2006 budget request after its director, Virginia Higbee, questioned whether the university was still interested in aiding the program.

"We have, for the 31 years that I have worked here and for the time prior to that when I was a student, considered ourselves a service university.That was part of who we were," Higbee said.

Virginia B. Higbee is the Executive Director of Head Start and Early Intervention Programs at Southern Utah University, in Cedar City.Educated at SUU, she has worked since 1974 in community support and early childhood education in southern Utah, and has provided training and technical assistance to others in Utah and in the intermountain west.She has served on numerous community and policy boards, most recently completing 10 years on the DCFS board.