Asa Adams Pre-K teachers host outdoor graduation ceremony for students

ORONO, Maine — Asa Adams Elementary School Pre-Kindergarten teachers Beth Bilodeau and Nate Case knew they wanted to do something special to celebrate their 20 students who were moving on to kindergarten, but the coronavirus pandemic limited their options for an in-person ceremony. 

Instead, Bilodeau and Case came up with an idea to host a mini graduation to celebrate their students — one by one. 

Early Wednesday morning, they hung a few decorations and balloons around the school’s playground. Students and their families came in waves, each one signed up for a different time slot to avoid breaking physical distancing rules. 

Four-year-old Nolan Cerkovitz poses for a photo with his family after graduating from pre-kindergarten on Wednesday. (Nina Mahaleris | The Penobscot Times)

On their own, students ran through the jungle gym, making their way down the yellow curly slide where their teachers stood with a graduation certificate in hand, officially marking their new status as kindergarteners. 

Four-year-old Nolan Cerkovitz was the very last student to graduate on Wednesday afternoon. 

He weaved his way through the makeshift obstacle course as his parents watched from the ground. “It’s great that they could think of something to do to celebrate,” his mother Becky Standley said. 

The mini ceremony was also a break from what one pre-kindergarten student called, “the big sickness,” Case said. 

For each of the separate 15-minute ceremonies, kids returned to the school, some hugged their teachers and greeted old pals from a distance — things they haven’t been able to do in months since the school shut down.  

“I think today made it feel normal again,” Case said.