Young students at the Spring Hill Campus for Head Start celebrated Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday commemorating an unlikely victory over the French on May 5th, 1862. Mexican Americans celebrate it as a day to take pride in their Mexican heritage. State Representative Ingoglia and his wife Julie Ingoglia attended the event for a meet and greet.
Students dressed up in Mexican attire, played games, made crafts, ate Mexican cuisine and sampled horchata, a special sweet rice beverage. The lettuce greens in the salad were grown in their garden as well as the strawberries in the fruit salad. The University of Florida recently supplied the Head Start program with a gardening grant. The students are responsible for planting and watering the gardens which are full of a variety of crops including corn, squash, tomatoes and beans in addition to the strawberries and lettuce. At Spring Hill Head Start, there are eight classrooms of 3 and 4 year olds. Each class prepared a special dish to bring to the fiesta.
Head Start is a federally funded program for 3 and 4 year olds who come from low-income families. Some have additional risk factors such as an incarcerated parent, drug/alcohol addictions in the family or a family history of abuse. Head Start provides education, health, dental and mental health services to their students. Mid Florida Community Services serves 977 children through their Head Start and state-funded VPK programs throughout Hernando, Volusia, and Sumter counties.
The Spring Hill campus formerly belonged to Pasco-Hernando State College. The Spring Hill Head Start opened its doors three years ago, after much renovation was completed to suit the needs of the younger students.
Mid Florida Community Services runs two other programs on their Spring Hill Campus: a program for seniors and the family self sufficiency program supported by the community services block grant. The family self sufficiency program provides several services to low-income households to assist them in rising out of poverty and gaining the ability to sustain themselves. Often, parents of Head Start students seek assistance through the self sufficiency program. The programs on the Spring Hill campus work synergistically to better the lives of those they serve. Because of this, strong community ties are made and all programs end up being more successful.
On Cinco de Mayo, parents, students and staff all contributed to a fantastic fiesta celebration at Spring Hill Head Start.
Correction made 5/7/2015 11:24 am “Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday celebrating Mexican Independence Day” corrected to “a Mexican holiday commemorating an unlikely victory over the French on May 5th, 1862.”