At Pumpkin Patch Academy, preschool teacher Cheryl Martin is known for her attention to detail on a day-to-day basis, and for her “epic” culminating activities to her Gray Elephants’ learning adventures, whether it be fantastic imaginary train rides to glorious destinations, or actual field trips to exciting locations.

This school year, which Martin had determined would be her last one before retiring, was to be “epic” as well, and Martin made sure that each and every activity was the best it could be, from hatching the most baby chicks ever, to collecting the most cans of food in their food drive, ever.

However, for her final preschool graduation ceremony, one which Martin had promised would also be of epic proportions, her colleagues and the families of Pumpkin Patch Academy were able to top even Martin’s plans.

On Friday afternoon, June 23, Martin and her colleagues gathered their Gray Elephants together for one final show, their graduation from preschool on to kindergarten and beyond. The event was to be filled with not just diplomas, but singing and dancing as well. Martin may have expected some tears, not just from the parents of her students, but from her colleagues and her family members who had gathered to witness her final graduation ceremony and her official Pumpkin Patch goodbye.

What she could not have expected, however, was that throughout the event, while families watched their children dancing and singing on the stage at Hope Highlands Middle School, a bigger, “epic” plan was unfolding in the lobby as dozens upon dozens of Martin’s former students from the past nearly two decades, began arriving and lining the hallways.

As the official preschool graduation ceremony began to come to a close in the auditorium, the newly-minted kindergarteners lined the aisles and Martin’s colleagues settled her into a special spot on stage as she readied herself to receive a rose from each of them.

Just over the shoulder of the final student in the line, the doors at the back of the auditorium opened, and more students filed in, joining in the line, walking on to the stage, and handing Martin a rose. The line of students grew longer and the height of the students grew taller, as the stage filled to near capacity and Martin became overwhelmed with emotion as parents of her former students also filled the back of the auditorium.

As testament to Martin’s impact over the years, her colleagues spoke on her behalf, as did parent representatives, each speaking to what they had learned from Martin in addition to what she had taught their children, and Martin was given a citation from the city of Cranston, marking the most “epic” of days in her very own name.