The highlight of the morning had to be when an impromptu dance occurred as the tiny tykes showed off to the adults one of their favorite activities, and suddenly the grownups and preschoolers together were dancing the Macarena as laughter filled the room. (A video of which can be seen HERE on the SWARK.Today Facebook page.)

Hope ABC PreK Director Lyndsi Easterling said inviting support adults of the children into the classroom was a good way to touch base with students’ families. “If parents or grandparents can’t get off work to attend, then it could be a preacher, a community member, or anybody to come show support for the kids,” Easterling said. “Our primary goal is to keep families connected to what’s going on with their students in the classroom.”

Kimberly Hernandez, a part of the ABC PreK team, facilitated the event which had to be divided up into multiple days to accommodate the families of 120 students, and she said the outcome so far has been a success. “This has gone amazingly well,” she said. “We have had over 100 parents and family friends come through in the last five days and there are still two classes to go.” 

Hernandez also said the staff hoped to promote the school itself and that enrollment applications for next year would be going out in March. The current three-year-old students automatically had spots for next year in the four-year-old class, so the three-year-old class spots will be open next year. “This is an amazing program,” she said. “We have wonderful students and an incredible staff; these kids right here are future graduates of Hope High School. It all starts here.”

Faculty and staff have another reason to celebrate since they recently earned another Better Beginning star in state evaluation ratings, now making Hope ABC PreK a four-star program. (See photos below) Better Beginnings ratings are based on the quality of a program and evaluates curriculum, teacher training, etc. Easterling said this dedicated team was still hard at work and now their goal was to get a fifth star.