Parade sends fifth-graders off in style
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 7 months AGO
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Park Orchard principal Cheri Ward poses for a picture with a fifth-grader and his brand-new promotion certificate during the school's promotion parade Monday.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Park Orchard principal Cheri Ward presents a fifth-grader with her promotion certificate during the school's promotion parade Monday.
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | June 8, 2020 11:54 PM
MOSES LAKE — Fifth-graders at Park Orchard Elementary School went off to sixth grade in style with a car parade through the parking lot Monday night, with their teachers leading a cheer.
Normally, fifth-graders receive their certificates during an assembly, said principal Cheri Ward, and take a goodbye walk through the halls. But the state closed schools in late March, and fifth-graders never got the chance to do those things.
So for 2020, Park Orchard administrators invited the kids and their families to drive through the parking lot, with music playing and staff members cheering and waving pom-poms.
Ward estimated about 25 teachers and aides, including all the fifth-grade teachers, were out front showing their support for the kids.
“We’re celebrating our Grizzlies,” Ward said. “We called it our promotion parade.”
Many families decorated their cars, and the fifth-graders took their certificates with big smiles.
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