Jennifer Solano wants to help raise this generation of children. And the next.

The Myrtle Point woman just started working toward that goal as a parent volunteer in the South Coast Head Start’s Coquille and Myrtle Point classroom last school year.   This spring, she took home the title of South Coast Head Start’s parent volunteer of the year.

Then much to her surprise, less than a month later, she was elected parent volunteer of the year for the state of Oregon. The announcements were so close together Solano, 30, didn’t quite understand at first that she won the state competition.

“When they told me I won for the state — that caught me off guard,” she said.

Solano also felt humbled. She knew some of the other parents and didn’t think she was any more qualified to win than they were.

South Coast Head Start Director Dale Helland was impressed with the enthusiasm and energy Solano put into her work in the program and parent policy council. He said that at one point she gave a  presentation on ways the program could work better.

“She was hard-working and a strong supporter and advocate of the program,” Helland said. “She’s a great parent.”

Volunteerism was strong in the combined Myrtle Point and Coquille classroom she worked in this year. About 15 to 20 kids were in the class. Up to eight adults on any given day would be working with them.

“There was a lot of parent participation this year,” Solano said. “The kids got all kinds of attention.”

Oregon Coast Community Action runs the South Coast Head Start program, which serves low-income preschool children ages 3 to 5. The South Coast area has 10 program sites. Solano is the fourth volunteer from the South Coast in as many years to advance to the state, regional or national competition. Volunteer Mickey Ludwig, also of Myrtle Point, won the national contest in 2006.

Solano’s election as parent of the year comes on the heels of a time of transition. She moved here from Alaska a year and a half ago. At the time, she said she was overweight, diabetic, and piecing together a way of making a living between two or three jobs. It is a struggle in a small town, she said, but she was determined to make it work.

“I want my children to grow up in a safe place,” Solano said. “Not a big city.”

Now, the soft-spoken mother of two has lost enough weight to defeat diabetes and has a career plan: She wants to be a Head Start teacher.

Her daughter, Shyanne, 4, took part in the program, and Solano said she was impressed. She liked how involved the children were in decisions, such as how to decorate the classroom and for family nights, and the imagination and creativity the environment inspired in the kids. The program curriculum also is made available to the parents, so they know what their kids are learning.

“I just really liked it,” she said.

Solano made habit of picking up her son, Nathaniel, 8, to have lunch with his sister at Head Start. After lunch, the early Head Start class would end and she would take her son back to school.

“After Head Start, I would go sit in his class and watch him learn,” she said.

With Head Start, Solano found an opportunity to do much more than watch.

Volunteering in the Head Start classroom, turned into offering a hand in the kitchen and as a bus monitor. This year Solano served as the secretary and Myrtle Point representative on the Head Start Policy Council. She traveled to Nashville, Tenn., for training. She also spent 80 hours training as a substitute cook and teacher.

All the experience has helped prepare her, but it is the kids who inspire her to teach.

“There is just something in the way the kids greet you in the morning and watching them grow,” she said. “When I see kids in town they say ‘Teacher Jen! Teacher Jen! It just makes you feel so good.”

It may have been Solano’s successful efforts at changing her life, while still volunteering with Head Start that led to her selection as parent volunteer of the year. All those who apply for the designation submit an essay about themselves. Solano detailed her journey in the last year, what she accomplished as a volunteer, and her plans for the future, which include earning a teaching degree, a requirement for Head Start teachers beginning in 2013.

Others think it was the amount of time Solano was willing to give that put her at the top of the list of candidates.

Head Start Coquille Valley Area Manager Jane Pierson said Solano is well on her way to a teaching position. With 80 hours of training Solano, worked her way up to serving as a substitute cook and substitute assistant teacher in the classroom.

“She was enthusiastic and willing to just jump right in,” Pierson said.

It may not be too long before Solano finds out the result of the regional contest, in which she will compete against winners of contests in the western states. The regional winner will be announced sometime in August. The national winner will be announced at the National Head Start Parent Convention in December.

“We’re pretty proud of her,” Pierson said. “It’s quite an honor.”