The students who were in the first grade when the world changed are on their way to middle school.

Four moving up ceremonies held by the Poughkeepsie City School District’s elementary schools in the past week marked the end to a challenging primary learning experience.

“This is a special one,” Dr. David Scott, principal at Clinton Elementary, said of their ceremony. “We have been through some ups and downs together.”

The fifth-grade class he was addressing had only been in the school for six months when classrooms were closed in March 2020 amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their first full year of traditional learning did not come until the third grade.

“This would be a cohort of students who experienced an unprecedented interruption in their critical primary years of education,” said Gregory Mott, assistant superintendent for elementary education. “They did endure traumatic experiences of COVID. Grief, loss, trauma, interruption of their academics by not being able to have face-to-face instruction, not being able to have student interaction, not being able to see – what we take for granted – how a teacher pronounces words, letters, sounds, the critical piece of modeling instruction to them at the most critical age at the primary level.

“This group should be celebrated for their endurance, their perseverance and we hope that they’re leaving fifth grade with the tools they would need to be able to go into a sixth-grade classroom.”

Each of the moving up ceremonies struck a celebratory tone, as students not only received certificates but also performed.

At the Clinton ceremony, held Monday at Poughkeepsie Middle School, the class of 44 students sang “America the Beautiful,” “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and “I Believe.” Sophia McKoy recited a poem, “Hey Black Child,” by Countee Cullen.

McKoy beamed from ear-to-ear as she left the auditorium and said she enjoyed reading the poem for the room. However, “I was very nervous. On the stage, my hand was shaking,” she said. “I felt relieved I was done with it.”

Janelle Ryland provided the Class of 2024 speech, in which she recalled being “challenged to dream big.

“Thank you, moms. Thank you, dads,” she said. “Thank you Clinton staff. We’ll dream big and believe in ourselves.”

Mott likewise said the list of people who had a hand in the fifth grade students reaching this point is broad.

“You have to recognize parents, you have to recognize guardians and caretakers, because many of them should be celebrated for the kids being able to walk across the stage today,” he said.

There’s also the teachers and faculty, of course. Mott noted in addition to learning how to navigate the difficulties of the pandemic and remote learning, the elementary staff over the last three years has implemented a vertically aligned curriculum and a new foundation that teaches the five pillars of reading, which has revolutionized the district’s primary learning experience.

And now, those students will start a new chapter. McKoy said she’s eager to learn what it’s like to navigate a middle-school schedule.

“I’m looking forward to walking around the school, switching classes, I think it will be really fun,” she said.

Domani Williams agreed switching classrooms will be a highlight. “Plus, we’ll have our own lockers,” he said. “I always wanted a locker.”