As graduates at three Door County mainland schools walk up to receive their diplomas in recent weeks, staff members at Northern Door Children’s Center remember a time when they could not even stand.  The Sister Bay-based center is celebrating the over 20 students at Gibraltar, Sevastopol, and Sturgeon Bay High Schools that were part of their first looping class, which kept the kids together with the same teacher from six weeks old to the age of three. Research shows this kind of consistency is beneficial to brain growth and overall development during a critical time in life. Karen Corekin-DeLaMer from Northern Door Children’s Center says this year’s graduates confirm its positive effects close to 18 years later.

Corekin says they have done looping ever since the first class and even when the kids move on to 3K, the teacher helps out so they become adjusted to the change. You can find a list of the first graduating class of Loopers below.

HANNAH AMA 

EVA ARMBRUSTER 

MATTHEW AUSTGEN

IZABELLA BUNDA 

KIMBERLY CHURCH

MADILYN CLAYTON

GEORGIA FELDMAN

KATIE FRANK

BYRON FINELL 

BENJAMIN FITZGERALD

KOKO KRISTINA BETANCOURT HARTZELL

JESPER JOHNSON 

STELLA KERSABET 

SOLOMON LINDENBERG

CYNTHIA MANSON

SETH MERLINE

AUBREY PEOT

LIA REDMANN-SMITH

JENNA RILEY

KAYLA SCHARRIG

ABIGAEL SITTE 

TAYLOR STAI

ISABELLE VARTANIAN 

NADEEN WASSEL

NICOLE WASSEL