Big day for the little ones

By Jodelle Greiner

There were laughs and sunshine, but also a sense of time having flown by when 10 kindergartners were honored with a graduation ceremony Tuesday at Marshall Area Christian School.

The laughs were provided by their teacher, Cindy Nelson, who said when the kids say something funny, she tries to write it down right away in a notebook.

Her favorite was, "Did you know that when my dad was in college, he had hair?".

Eighth-grader Hannah Harrison addressed the kindergartners, telling them what they can expect from the teachers in the upcoming years.

"I thank God for each of my teachers," Harrison said.

She warned the little ones to not wish away their time at MACS, because before they knew it, it would be time to leave, just like it was for her, and "you'll miss MACS," said Harrison, adding that she's made good friends while at the school.

Nelson gave Sunshine Awards to each kindergartner, pointing out some good quality that each has, like perseverance, orderliness or friendliness. The kids tried to guess who was going to get the next award from her description, before she announced the name.

Nelson also thanked her teacher's aide, Angela McClure, known to the students as "Miss Angie". She comes in two or more days a week and this is her third year.

The ceremony wrapped up with a slide show of the activities the little ones had done during the year.

"The slide show" was Grayce Metheny's favorite part of the ceremony and she learned "to read" while she was in kindergarten.

Caleb Beachem's favorite part was "The Sunshine Awards" and he liked when they learned how "turtles lay eggs and come up on land."

Emily Meier liked "going up on stage" during graduation and she learned how "to write" during the year.

MACS has had a kindergarten class for 15 years and a graduation ceremony for about seven, said Nelson.