NNPA NEWSWIRE — Head Start was instrumental in preparing my twin sons for school while my wife and I regrouped financially. It’s one thing to experience Head Start as a student, but as a parent, I’ve developed an even deeper appreciation for the depth and magnitude of Head Start’s impact on families and communities.
Masada Ellis
Business MBA NotApologeticStudiosLLC, MC, Speaker, Author, Artist, ECS Board Member
Nothing proves who you are like adversity. I have always been a strong-willed person, but since having children of my own, I now know exactly how to use my persistence to leave them a legacy they can be proud of. Until I joined the Marine Corps at 18, I lived at home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with my mother and six sisters. Three of them were goddaughters, but we were raised as biological siblings. Like many other cities in the Deep South, Hattiesburg played a major role in the civil rights movement. It was the largest site for the “Freedom Summer” voter registration drive in 1964. That historical connection is not lost on me when I think about how, decades later, as a four-year-old at Head Start, I memorized Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I recall that memory often because Dr. King is one of my heroes, and she reminds me that my Head Start teacher saw in me potential and abilities beyond my age. She saw the determination in me.
Life as a child was tough. My mother, sisters, and I constantly struggled with lack of money and food, and no access to good healthcare. Since I was a child, I wanted to make a difference and improve the lives of people in similar situations to my family. I also wanted to go to college, so I joined the Marines to get there. I believe it’s true that resourcefulness is born out of necessity. During my time in the Corps, I made some mistakes that earned me time in prison and the loss of military benefits, but I’m a fighter. I don’t believe in giving up. After my military service, I had limited resources, so I found a way to work multiple jobs to pay for college, get my bachelor’s degree, and support a young family at the same time.
When my physical disabilities made it painfully clear that a regular 9-to-5 job was out of the question for me, I took my degree in audio engineering and my passion for music and started a business as an event planner and songwriter. And when my business ran into trouble, the memory of reciting Dr. King’s speech came flooding back. I turned to Head Start. “The true measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of ease and comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Head Start was pivotal in preparing my twin sons for school while my wife and I regrouped financially. It’s one thing to experience Head Start as a student, but as a parent, I’ve developed an even deeper appreciation for the depth and magnitude of Head Start’s impact on families and communities. As parents, Head Start invited my wife and me into our children’s classrooms. Teachers identified a speech problem in one of our boys and connected us with a speech therapist. He now speaks clearly (and without stopping). Staff saw how involved I was as a father and invited me to start a fatherhood group. I also became involved in the policy council, was elected chair, and am now on the board of Episcopal Community Services (ECS).
Today, I use all of my platforms and relationships to support and promote Head Start and advocate for the needs of children, families, and veterans in my community, state, and nationally. After years of appeals, my military benefits were partially restored, which has enabled my wife and I to purchase a family home. Together, we have the privilege of raising the most amazing people in the world. At times, my circumstances have been mentally and physically draining, but I get up every day and keep going so that my children can see that setbacks are the flip side of success and the two can coexist. I want them to remember me as someone who never gave up.
