ALAMOSA – On Saturday, June 22, a graduation ceremony was held for San Luis Valley children ages 3-4 who completed the HIPPY Program.
Tiny smiling tots with their colorful caps and gowns, nice outfits, and pretty dresses, lined up to march at the Alamosa Rec Center, where the ceremony was held. There were about 72 people at the ceremony. Pomp and Circumstance played as the children happily marched in behind one of the HIPPY instructors, until they all reached their seats in front of the audience at the center.
Some special guests were present at the ceremony, including the Rocky Mountain PBS Daniel Tiger, and Alamosa Mayor Ty Coleman. The room at the center was decked out with colorful balloons and tables and the HIPPY instructors wore bright orange shirts that had HIPPY and a picture of PBS Daniel Tiger on them, along with a cartoon graduate painted on the front.
HIPPY coordinator Beverly Martinez introduced and thanked everyone for attending the celebration.
“We are here to celebrate these children, and their amazing work and commitment to the HIPPY program,” she said. “Each of these children have given it their all, and successfully completed our program requirements. We are so proud of these children, they will all be receiving a diploma from HIPPY today. We are truly blessed that so many children have worked hard and dedicated their time and efforts to our program. We would also like to thank all the friends of the family, and family members who have joined us today to celebrate this big accomplishment.”
HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters. The duration of the program is 30 weeks. The program works by allowing instructors to come into the child’s home and bring weekly curriculum for children to engage in with their parents. The program helps develop skills in different areas and specializes in fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, science, creative arts, and literacy lessons. The program helps young children learn numbers, colors, shapes, days of the week, months, and provides many hands-on activities to promote growth and education in young lives all over the Valley.
With reading being a major part of the curriculum, each young student receives a new book, every three to four weeks to help promote early literacy. The HIPPY program also provides school supplies for children. The supplies are free to children for the duration that they are enrolled in the program.
After Martinez’s introduction, all the HIPPY instructors joined their students in front of the audience and sang songs that included fun dance movements. Special guest Rocky Mountain PBS Daniel Tiger also joined the children and began to sing and dance with them. The instructors and Daniel sang the “Hokey Pokey,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and the “Wheels on the Bus.” The children engaged with each of the songs. Coordinator Martinez danced and smiled with the students and instructors.
After the music and dancing, Martinez announced each instructor’s name, and the children were then announced one by one and handed a diploma and congratulated on their accomplishments.
Mayor Coleman gave a small speech. He said that as a child he struggled with early literacy. He said he feels it is important to start education and reading as soon as possible to help children be successful.
“Early childhood education is so crucial in our community. Here are a few statistics. Children who read and engage in early childhood education are 75% more likely to graduate high school. In early childhood education settings, children learn valuable interpersonal skills such as listening, sharing, and expressing emotion. If a student cannot read by the third grade, they are more likely to drop out of high school because of the challenges that they face.”
Coleman said that he feels it is important for students to learn early, because of all the challenges that he and others have faced. He really wants children to be given every opportunity to learn so that they can have the opportunity for future success.
A light lunch was served following the ceremony. Awards were given to various home visitors to celebrate their success with the children and all they do for HIPPY.
Martinez said the celebration went well. She also gave a special thank you to everyone.
“We have been planning the graduation all year long. I am always excited and very honored to be a part of everything with HIPPY. I have amazing home visitors, each and every one of them is unique and wonderful. They really bring something different to HIPPY and to myself personally, and without them there would be no HIPPY. They are truly amazing,” she said.
The HIPPY program strives to serve diverse communities and is available to children living in Saguache, Rio Grande, Alamosa, Costilla, and Conejos counties. HIPPY also provides resources in English and Spanish.
For more information or to enroll, contact HIPPY Coordinator Martinez at 719-298-1572 or Director Ruth Horn at 719-589-4977.
