Jessie Petersen & Amanda Horne – Holbrook Elementary

Imagine a quiet little boy at age 3, unsure of himself and unable to express himself with speech.

While in an Early Childhood Intervention program, it was recommended that little Remington start attending preschool at Holbrook Elementary. Imagine his nervous parents, sending him into school, without him being able to communicate with words!

We never worried after we met the preschool team of Miss Jessie and Miss Amanda. They welcomed Remington with open arms, open hearts and unlimited patience. They gently guided Remington in a safe, trusting and fun environment, making me laugh with funny phrases he had said for the first time in school. After just weeks, Remington’s humming and gesturing turned into full sentences, he even started singing (something I had never heard him do!) For an entire school year, I watched both teachers greet him with tireless enthusiasm at the beginning of each class, and bid him farewell with an encouraging word at the end of very class. Remington’s confidence grew before our eyes, as did his vocabulary! This awesome teaching team maintained a playful relationship while giving Remington valuable lessons. Their balanced approach and focus of play, art, spelling, the alphabet, helping others and following rules make school a joy, not a chore. His love for them became obvious quickly, as he never wanted to miss a school day.

This is Remington’s second year in their class, and triumph of triumphs, he has successfully caught up to his peers and completed speech therapy with flying colors! An enormous part of that is credited to his fabulous teachers!

Miss Jessie and Miss Amanda foster such a positive atmosphere, it’s hard to imagine that Remington will have to move on and be taught by someone else next year. They have been the best thing that could have happened to help Remington start his journey in education and have set the stage for a lifetime of learning for our once quiet little boy!

–Candice Sano