Oh, The Places You'll Go!

[For a photo gallery of the Rockland graduation, click here.]

Carol Wishoski has handed out countless diplomas to children in the many years she has been teaching.

But on Wednesday morning, June 15, she gave the official certificates of achievement to graduates for the first time at the Rockland Montessori Academy (formerly the Rockland Montessori School) that relocated this year to a 114-year-old Victorian mansion at 122 Maple St.

“The children know they’ve done something very important but they have no idea what it is,” she joked with the large group of parents and friends who came to see the three-year-olds sing and receive recognition for their accomplishments at the academy.

The children, dressed in red capes and gowns, marched into the ceremony to the music of “Children Are The Future” and lined up in front of the majestic academy building.

Wishoski, the owner and director of Rockland Montessori Academy, asked some of the children what they would like to be when they grow up.

These little people have a myriad of plans, ranging from traditional professions to becoming astronauts.

They sang a few numbers, including “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and “Down By the Bay” as well as Father’s Day songs such as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and “Fun With Daddy.”

“Children are our most precious gifts in life,” Wishoski said in her welcoming address. “Thank you for giving us these wonderful children.”

Every child is a little miracle, Wishoski believes.

“Between birth and age six are the most important years (for their educational development),” she said.

As she admitted to saying many times, Wishoski had two messages for parents.

One, an old Native American proverb, is about roots and wings.

“You have given them both with the opportunity to begin establishing themselves and feeling freedom,” Wishoski said. “That process has already started. Even at three years old, we have seen these children grow.”

The second message Wishoski had for parents of the graduates was to always be involved in their activities.

“You’re the people who are always going to be in your children’s’ lives,” she said.

The objective at the academy, according to Wishoski, is to make children’s first school experience a positive one by providing a supportive and nurturing environment in which they can grow and develop emotionally, socially, cognitively and academically.

In 1990, she started a traditional preschool at Rockland Nursery School for children in Malden and surrounding communities.

In 1999, Wishoski melded Montessori curriculum with the traditional, creating the preschool and kindergarten experience of Rockland Montessori School.

In August 2010, she bought the long-neglected Maple Street mansion that she restored to maintain its historical architectural features.

The academy’s new home features:

• Four classrooms on each of three floors with a common foyer with science and culture works
• Eight new or refurbished bathrooms
• Three new kitchenettes
• Two restored stairways: a grand stairway and a back stairway
• One new stairway linking the second and third floor
• Seven marble fireplaces
• School library
• Four doors, including a covered portico, for convenient pickup/dropoff
• New heating/air conditioning system
• Handicapped access ramp and bathroom
• Many floor-to-ceiling windows