Local pre-school graduates beginning the long journey to adulthood.

 

I couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic. There I was at Pinecrest School in Valencia, in the midst of a vast sea of video cameras, picture cameras, disposable cameras and phone cameras.

Pomp and Circumstance was playing, and from around the corner came the future of our world, marching one behind the other. Their “Sunday best” outfits could be seen peeking out from underneath their white gowns, as these bright young minds took the stage for their…pre-school graduation.

While some may scoff at the notion of a preschool graduation, I disagree. I can remember mine quite clearly.

[view:node_ad=5]It was June of 1987, and I too was on the stage at Pinecrest Valencia. My class did a dance/lip-sync to the hottest tune of the day; Walk Like an Egyptian by the Bangles. I was slightly perturbed because I wasn’t selected as the kid who banged the giant tin foil constructed gong that was our big finale. But I smiled nonetheless, and afterwards I was rewarded for my hard work (learning every single number between one and ten) when my parents gave me an action figure depicting Ray from Ghostbusters…that was Dan Aykroyd’s character.

Of course today is 21 years later and it was my niece up there, dancing to High School Musical songs and flashing coy smiles at us in the crowd every chance she could.

I wondered if she would remember this moment in the same manner I do so many years later. I believe she will, because despite what any of us may feel, today was a big moment in those childrens’ lives. It marks the official start of their journey to adulthood.

From this point forward they are required to spend the next fourteen years of their lives getting up early, going to school, and passing classes. The keys to their future have been dropped in their laps, and even though there will be plenty of help along the way, it really is up to them.

I don’t want it to seem negative though. Life is filled with unlimited possibility and it’s important for us to recognize when we transition from one point of our lives to another.

In October I will be married, and my fiancé and I are looking to purchase our first home. And while I don’t get an awkward little white hat with a tassel, I do understand that I’m at the edge of a new part of my life.

So why all the fuss for our little ones? Because they should comprehend the importance of what they’ve accomplished so far, and they should value what will be asked of them in the future.

In the words of our fearless newsroom matriarch Carol Rock, “I’ll get off my soapbox now.”