“To me, the children are just everything that is right in the world,” Seaford Community Preschool Director Siri Willis said, at the school’s 50th Moving Up to Kindergarten ceremony on June 12. “They just are.”
The preschool is a ministry of Seaford United Methodist Church, started by congregation member Howard Ross 50 years ago, according to Church and Preschool Program Coordinator Christine Kollar.
The church’s sanctuary was filled with smiling parents and 43 giggling four- and five-year-olds during the ceremony, as the students walked down the aisle, to the educational song, “Walking to the ABCs,” after receiving their diplomas.
Willis said every annual graduation is special at the preschool, but reaching a milestone, like the 50th, made the celebration extra special. “I do think that what’s even more special is looking out into the audience and [seeing] the amount of parent alumni that we have; [it] is incredible,” she added. “That makes it even more special; to have had parents who walked down the same hallways that their children now are.”
Rev. Steven Knutsen, the church pastor, said he and the preschool staff are proud of the students. “We’re grateful that the families, the moms, the dads, the guardians, that they trust us to do this, and it’s a joy,” he said. “The bottom line, two words: learning and love. The love they give us is beyond measure.”