Graduation Day!

With a standing room only crowd this week, we watched 16 preschoolers graduate from Crittenton Centers.  Dressed in caps and gowns, the children grinned from ear to ear as they walked to their seats.  Each child received an award for their unique contribution to the classroom and a backpack full of school supplies to start their school career.  We even had a special visitor – “Pete the Cat”! 

 

As the years go by, we watch children grow and learn, and the teachers in our Child Development Center work to prepare children for their graduation day.  As you travel through the halls, you see children playing.  But do you think, “Look at them working?”  When children are playing, they are “working”.  When children are in the Block Center, can you think of all the skills they are learning?  They are learning the concept of shape, size and length to create and repeat patterns; to use their imagination; to express their ideas; to cooperate with others; and to solve problems - just to name a few. 

This graduation day brings to mind what it takes to help a child succeed.  It takes parents being actively involved in the child’s education.   It takes staff in the Child Development Center teaching and playing…or should we call it working?  It takes a community that graciously supports our work with two generations providing education to the children and support of parents as teachers. 

This fall our graduates will be off to kindergarten ready to learn!  We are sad to see them go, as some of them have been with us since they were infants. How exciting it will be to learn how successful they become!  As we say goodbye to our preschoolers, we hope will be a successful educational journey.  Maybe the play, or work, that started in the Block Center is the beginning of a brilliant architect.  And our wish for each one of them is that…this be the first of many graduations to come. 

Donna Ashley

Program Services Director