Parade sends fifth-graders off in style
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.
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.
