Community gathers with families and friends to celebrate Ka Pa‘alana’s graduating class May 25, 2011

A day of celebrating was in order for the keiki and families of Ka Pa‘alana Traveling Preschool. May 19, 2011 marked a milestone for 37 special preschoolers as they prepared to take a big step forward, ready for the “big school” and that thing called kindergarten.

The ceremony began with a blessing and a song, then one by one, each graduate’s name was called – a moment of recognition and pride well-deserved by each of them!

In addition to the ones moving-on to kindergarten, 13 preschoolers who would be transitioning to other preschools were also recognized. Each graduate was given a certificate of participation, a lei, and a backpack filled with school supplies. The backpacks were a gift from Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, and the school supplies were generously donated by Target employees. Target also brought some volunteers to help out during this graduation event.

This year it was an honor to have Kamehameha Schools trustee Micah Kane come and speak. In sharing his words of encouragement and wisdom he also set aside some time to sit with just the graduates and spoke specifically to them.

After the ceremony the party began, with food (including soup donated by Zippy’s), snacks, bounce houses, face painting and a variety of other activities.