Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  This is the season for too much cuteness. Four and five year old Nederland Elementary School students graduated from kindergarten to first grade last Friday, May 18, 2018, a milestone that used to be fairly seamless.

On Friday, two separate kindergarten classes, one morning, one afternoon, sent about 40 students into the upper echelons of academic career, the first of five grades which will prepare for them leaving the nurturing nest of NES.

Each of the classes had a celebration in the kindergarten classroom with teacher Mary Waddell guiding them through songs and recitations that demonstrated their fledgling reading and memorizing skills.

NES principal Laurel Reichert praised the children and handed each of them a certificate of having passed the necessary requirements to move on to first grade. She explained that this class, the high school class of 2030, is the crew of a ship headed in the right direction, on an expeditionary journey.

Even in kindergarten, the kids are developing a love of learning, of reading, of delving into their education.

“You are so ready for first grade,” she told them. “I am so proud of you.”

Each of the students were asked to stand before their proud parents and declare what they would do “With My Own Two Hands.”

The list of their future plans includes being: an inventor, a lifeguard who saves people from drowning, a nurse who takes care of sick or help people; a firefighter; a gardener who plants flowers to make the earth feel better; a veterinarian who helps dogs and cats live; a dog trainer; a person who teaches people how to learn; a teacher who teaches children how to sing and an inventor that will make a robot who picks up trash.

None of the kindergartners said they wanted to be rich, to own fancy cars, to live in a mansion. All of their dreams included ways to help others, to create a better world.

After the kids finished their recitals they ran to their parents, knowing they had just accomplished something big, something they would strive to achieve again; the knowledge that they were leaving one giant step behind and moving up to the next level of their elementary school education.

(Originally published in the May 24, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)