WILLIAMSBURG — Soon-to-be Hampshire Regional High School graduates got a test run of their big moment on stage, this time practicing under a fresh set of eyes.
Balloons, banners and mortarboard-wearing stick figure drawings dressed up the halls inside the Anne T. Dunphy Elementary School as eight of its former students processed past the school’s current children.
A first of its kind for the school, the Wednesday morning event served as a homecoming of sorts. Eager preschool-through-sixth-grade Dunphy students cheered on the cap-and-gown- wearing crew.
“It’s just cool to see where we started from and how it’s changed,” said Hampshire senior Kyra Shumway, 18, of Williamsburg. “I don’t ever remember being unhappy at this school. It was always fun to learn new things.”
And Shumway will continue to learn, next at the University of New Hampshire as a communications major, she said.
Her elementary classmate Julia Smith, 17, also of Williamsburg, enjoyed the opportunity to inspire the “little kids” to be successful. Smith will be studying physical therapy at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire.
“It’s nice to show them that their (elementary education) does matter and makes a difference,” she said. “This is what they want to become.”
The Dunphy School was not alone in welcoming back its former students. Westhampton Elementary School, New Hingham Regional Elementary School and the William E. Norris School all saluted their alumni with walks through their old stomping grounds. Williamsburg sends its public school students to Hampshire Regional High School after their in-town elementary education. Hampshire also serves the towns of Chesterfield, Goshen, Southampton and Westhampton with Grades 7 to 12.
Dunphy School Principal Stacey Jenkins spearheaded the homecoming event. She said she took the idea to Hampshire Principal Kristen Smidy, who immediately got on board and contacted the other elementary schools.
Jenkins said the visit from the graduates offered her current students “a glimpse of what they can do in the future.”
“Right now, many of them can’t picture being disconnected with this school,” she said of those students, noting that the sixth-graders will soon move on to Hampshire Regional High School.
She hopes the walk will show Dunphy students that they are welcome to come back whenever they want.
“I thought we could try this in our district, because Williamsburg students go off to high school in different towns and sometimes lose that connection,” Jenkins said.
Will Hathaway, 17, who attended Dunphy through third grade and is set to graduate from Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School in South Hadley, said it was his sister who convinced him to attend the walk. Tatum Hathaway, 9, is a fourth-grader at Dunphy.
“She did the whole puppy-dog-eyes routine,” he said, “which clearly worked.” The brother and sister walked hand in hand through the school’s garden afterward. Will Hathaway will be close to his sister after graduation — he plans to attend Hampshire College in Amherst and will study a mixture of technology and visual arts.
Mary Ellen Woods, a speech pathologist at Dunphy who co-taught preschool to the now seniors, said it was touching to watch them walk through the halls once again.
“They’re just a really nice group of kids who grew up well with the support of the community,” she said.
The Hampshire regional commencement is at 7 p.m. Friday in John M. Greene Hall on the Smith College campus.
Sarah Crosby can be reached at scrosby@gazettenet.com.