The Heart Of All Seasons

Ambrose, an All Seasons alum, helping Oskar

The impact of preschool on a child’s future education has been well documented. But what about the impact on their hearts?

This year, two of my former students returned to All Seasons, one to inspire preschoolers in the Art Studio, and one to visit the senior residents and their old classrooms. Ambrose was in the very first class of Springies in 2014. Annemarie joined in 2015.

Ambrose happily agreed to share his creative talents. He came with some of his past creations, as well as laundry baskets full of precut cardboard pieces and pre-made cardboard ramps to use as the base of sculptures. It was astounding to watch him tenderly take on the role of teacher in the very place where he had been a student not so very long ago.

Annemarie returned to Inver Glen, part of a group of nine alumni and their families! They came on Valentine’s Day, knocking on every resident's door to personally deliver roses and sweet notes with attached hearts, representing hugs to hold on to. They spoke to seniors with incredible sincerity and asked about grandmas and grandpas who had passed away. They all exclaimed how small everything seemed, especially the classroom lofts! But you would never have known that it had been years since they were students. They immediately befriended preschoolers, joining them in the sandbox, playing tag, reading stories, and even helping to console a child with a scraped knee. As their past teachers, Rita and I wiped away plenty of our own tears, too.

All Seasons graduates back for a visit

What follows are their personal reflections. First from Ambrose:

“’That big boy called me little!’ I shouted indignantly. At four years old, I was sure I was very big and capable of just about anything. Ten years later, I often find myself remembering what it felt like to be four—so confident, so certain of my size and importance.

Back then, I was in Ms. Amanda’s Spring Room, a place I loved Every Single Day (except for the days that I didn’t. I had big emotions.) Our class was small, with only a handful of boys, which meant we all got to know each other and Ms. Amanda really well. It felt like being part of a little family. I especially loved visiting the grandmas and grandpas, with Grandma Bette being my favorite.

A few years ago, my family moved to River Falls, Wisconsin, and we always make it a point to stop by Ms. Amanda’s house for trick-or-treating each Halloween. Last year, I designed and made all of my siblings’ costumes from cardboard, felt, and A LOT of hot glue. Ms. Amanda loved the creativity and invited me to come teach the preschoolers in her art studio how to make their own creations out of cardboard.

That day, as my brother and I showed the preschoolers how to build things out of cardboard, I realized something: when I was four, I thought I was really big. But seeing those kids look up at me with wide eyes, I finally understood just how small I had been back then. It made me smile, remembering the boy who once protested being called “little.” The kids we worked with had such big, imaginative ideas—castles with towers taller than themselves, costumes with wings that could actually fly, race cars that could zoom across the room. Their creativity was endless, but we had to gently scale those ideas down into something we could actually build.

Watching the kids get excited as their cardboard projects took shape made me realize something: being little isn’t so bad. Your hands are small, and some things are tricky, but being little means you can dream big, try crazy ideas, and mess up without worrying. It also taught me patience—helping them figure things out step by step reminded me that good things take time. Being little isn’t about size; it’s about curiosity, creativity, and enjoying the process.”

Annemarie and Margaret

And now from Annemarie:

“I was blessed with the privilege to say that All Seasons was my preschool from 2015-2017. Whether it was the lifelong friends I made, or the adventures I experienced, they stuck with me. Now, as a seventh grader at Visitation School, I still remember how my time there changed my life.

Walking into the building, the different memories of my preschool flooded me, one of the strongest and most vivid of them being the grandma who I chose as family, her name being Grandma Margaret. She was the sweetest person I have ever known. When I was four, I broke my arm. The second I came back to preschool, she was the first to give me the biggest hug and sign my cast.

All Seasons gave me friends and family that I will never forget, and this visit reminded me of all the funny and loving memories they gave me. As a wise person once told me, ‘The best things in life are the people you love, the places you go, and the memories you make.’ And All Seasons gave me all these.”