As a child in Ethiopia, Almaz Tadesse Staggs, a teacher at the YWCA North County Head Start Center, said she could run free “as far as the eye could see.”
“We had animals around us – cats, dogs, cows, you name it,” she said. “We’d touch them, feel them. It was a happy moment in my life, and I always reflect on it when I work with the kids.”
For 22 years, Staggs has taught children between three to five years at the YWCA North County Head Start location.
“The commitment that Mrs. Staggs has for early childhood education shows through the learning experiences and educational environment that she provides for the children enrolled in her classroom,” said Natalie Redmond, senior center operations administrator of the YWCA’s Head Start program.
The YWCA Head Start Program is one of the largest Head Start programs in the four-state region.
Staggs’ classroom environment stands out, Redmond said, because she includes a variety of ethnic and cultural experiences, including clothing foods, and daily music that represent other countries around the world.
“Often times, you will find students engaged in playing musical instruments as they dance in synch to the music,” she said. “Mrs. Staggs encourages children to express themselves through a variety of oral and written communication activities that allow them to explore their cognizance.”
Staggs said children learn with their senses. “That’s their first experience to explore the world,” she said. “I always bring the physical environment to the classroom, so I can enhance the children’s curiosity. I want them to come in the classroom and love learning at that early age.”
In her class, they plant flowers, and they work outside in the garden.
“It’s really important that the children learn how to take care of plants and animals so they will have respect for life,” she said. “So you don’t have to lecture a child; you just have to show them.”
Her parents taught her the same lesson.
“My mother learned to be a midwife,” she said. “We used to pray for a cow to deliver a baby, and the cats and dogs. That was a lot of taking care of nature, appreciating nature and respecting life.”
Her mother, Yesamework Liban, was a volunteer with the YWCA all of her life in Ethiopia. She used to teach women how to sew and cook. Her mother was also the daughter of former emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, Staggs said, and grew up in the palace. Her father, Tadesse Mekuria, was an army colonel and a lawyer. He also worked as a diplomat in the United Kingdom, Italy, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. The entire family of 10 children would follow him when he had assignments out of the country for periods of about six months.
Staggs came to the United States at the end of 1974 when she was not yet 17.
“The communists were taking over, and they started nationalizing people’s properties,” she said of her homeland. “Most of my family was put in jail, and some of them were killed. My adolescent years were interrupted.”
Despite those turbulent years, she said she became an early-childhood teacher 30-plus years ago because “I had such a beautiful, happy childhood, and I really want to work with kids.”
She lives in North St. Louis County with her husband, Tom Staggs.
Children in her classroom also have the opportunity to experience early mathematics, creative expression, art, social studies and technology.
“Entering the classroom of Mrs. Staggs is truly a life-changing experience for all that have been granted the opportunity, both student and staff,” Redmond said.
Staggs said the reason she’s been at Head Start for so long is because she truly believes it fully supports low-income families.
“It’s an excellent program,” she said. “They give the children everything they need.”
Staggs still keeps in touch with many of her former students, and they tell her that they remember discovering nature and songs they would sing in class.
She said, “I truly believe that I have some impact on the kids on respecting their environment, respecting their friends and generally love of nature.”
