Celebrating a rite of passage at HRS

For about a quarter of a century, Holy Redeemer School has conducted a graduation ceremony for kindergarten students

By Jodelle Greiner

MARSHALL - Kindergarteners went through a rite of passage at Holy Redeemer School on Friday morning when parents and schoolmates gathered for the 2009 kindergarten graduation prayer service. Holy Redeemer has conducted kindergarten graduation for at least 25 years, said Principal Carol DeSmet.

"It's a recognition that they've done their first full year and it's an opportunity to celebrate their first year," said the Rev. Paul Wolf, who conducted the liturgy service that preceded the graduation ceremony.

One by one, the eighth-graders read the names of the kindergartener they have mentored and that child's parents. When the younger student came forward, the eighth-grader placed a graduation cap on the head of the kindergartener. The teams made the caps and the hearts which were displayed on the walls of St. Mary's Chapel.

DeSmet presented each kindergartener with their diploma and they accepted congratulations from their teachers, Paula Dudgeon and Sharon Wenker. Then the kindergartener and their mentor posed for pictures before walking up the center aisle and lining up in the side aisles.

Since there are 30 kindergarteners and 36 eighth-graders, some kindergarteners had more than one mentor.

Some of the kindergarteners, while waiting for their group pictures to be taken, insisted they were first graders now. They all had different ideas about what they liked best and what they've learned over the past year.

Sophia Gilbertson's favorite part of graduating was when "We got to decorate our hearts," she said. "We learned to count by fives, and learned how to read."

She is the daughter of Carrie Gilbertson and Kennedy Gilbertson.

"Walking up with the cross," was Paul Bauer's favorite part of graduating. He is the son of Amy and Doug Bauer. What he learned was "letters, songs and words," he said.

Noah Patrick Dunn, son of Chris and Connie Dunn, wasn't sure what his favorite part of graduating was, but he sure learned a lot.

"Science, making crystals. Math, every kind of math," he said.