Head Start Alumna Now Helping Young Scholars

posted 2/16/24 -- Paris Johnson learned the importance of wrapping support around young people early in her life when others embraced her and her family.

As an alumna of Lorain County Community Action Agency’s Head Start program, Johnson can’t help but see similarities in her new role as Lorain Program Coordinator for the Young Scholars Program of The Ohio State University.

“I definitely can relate to these kids on so many levels,” she said.

OSU’s Young Scholars Program was created in 1988 to help students in urban communities, especially minorities, go to college and be successful there. Recruitment starts in eighth grade with coaching students in preparing for college. Johnson will advise 65 students on what classes to take in high school and how to be successful in them so they ultimately qualify for admission at OSU.

Monthly workshops and regular one-on-one sessions with Johnson are part of the YSP’s wrap-around services. Much like Head Start, YSP recognizes that basic needs must be met before learning can even begin, Johnson said.

“We have family meals before our monthly workshops,” Johnson said. “We acknowledge all parts of being a person, of being part of a family and a community. We coach them on resilience.”

YSP also offers summer academies on campus to give students a taste of college life. They also help with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the Common App and generally navigating the intimidating application and enrollment process. Sometimes it’s the process that prevents first-generation students from considering college, Johnson said.

The basic criteria for YSP admittance are academic talent (strong grades), being a first-generation college student (parents cannot have a bachelor’s degree at the time of application) and high financial need. Students must also be enrolled at Lorain City Schools at the time of their application.

Successful YSP members also receive a four-year scholarship to OSU. Once enrolled, YSP follows up to make sure students adjust and continue to achieve in their college classes and life.

“We accept as many kids as we can and we do everything in our power to keep our kids with us,” Johnson said. “The end goal of the program is to help each scholar pursue successful careers in higher education and gain high-level degrees, but we also want them to have overall success and well-being. We understand the positive impact higher education has on the quality of one’s life.”

Head Start remained part of Johnson’s life long after she transitioned to kindergarten. Her mother, Twania Henderson has been employed by the program for 28 years, having started as a volunteer. Henderson enrolled Johnson in Head Start because her youngest brother benefitted from the program. Henderson’s mother was an active volunteer in the LCCAA program under former director Marianne Pierro. Johnson’s three siblings also went through Head Start and all went on to college.

Henderson, now at Hopkins-Locke Head Start, worked as part of LCCAA’s long-time partnership with Lorain City Schools as Johnson continued her academic career at Lowell Academy, graduating from Southview High School. At Southview, Johnson was involved in an early version of what the district now calls its Early College Program. Using a full scholarship, she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science at Bowling Green State University.

Since earning her degree, Johnson has worked as an academic coach and long-term substitute teacher while also marrying and having two sons, Joshua and Jude, who both went through Head Start in Lorain City Schools. She’s also nearly finished with her master’s degree.

Johnson’s most vivid memories of Head Start are the parachute game and learning the importance of raising her hand.

“I was a talker so I remember my teachers helping me learn when to talk,” she said.

Henderson, who was only 19 when Johnson was born, added, “She had all the answers, but the socialization piece is really why I put her in.”

Both mother and daughter see Head Start’s influence in Johnson’s embracing of the YSP. In addition to fostering a lifelong love of learning, Head Start helped Johnson develop a generous spirit grounded in the knowledge that “everyone does not have it easy.”

“It’s important to meet the needs of a person before you can educate them,” Johnson said. “I feel like all that sticks with me from Head Start.”

Henderson couldn’t be prouder of how far her daughter has come. Since she enrolled her daughter in Head Start all those years ago, she has earned two associate’s degrees and is close to her bachelor’s.

“When you don’t have a lot, you still want the best for your children,” Henderson said. “You want them to be the best they can be.”

“I’m very glad to be there for the kids,” Johnson said of her new role. “I understand the feeling of wanting to be successful but feeling far from it. It’s like being there for my younger self.”