By Amanda Pevey
Elmore Autauga News
The Elmore County HIPPY program has completed their 2024-2025 school year with their final group meeting that included a graduation and moving up ceremony. A total of 60 children were in the program.
This year, HIPPY celebrated 27 graduates!
HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.
Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis was the guest speaker for the event. Terri Carrico, Child Development Program Supervisor and HIPPY Supervisor spoke to the parents about how important kindergarten readiness is to preschoolers. Presentation of Certificates and Diplomas were presented next followed by presentation of Special Awards.
A special thank you to the Elmore County Child Nutrition staff for providing dinner for the end of year program.
“We have had a wonderful year in the HIPPY program,” said Carrico. “We have been able to work through some bumps in the road this year and have a great staff in place. Our program has improved this year, and we feel like we are offering the parents of Elmore County a great resource for their children. It is especially important that we prepare our children in Elmore County for their school careers, whatever that looks like for them whether it be public school, private school, virtual, or home school.
“We want to give the children in our HIPPY program the strongest foundation possible and set them up to be successful learners. And make the learning process fun for the children and the entire family. We had a wonderful time celebrating the families enrolled in our HIPPY program this year. We had 6 group meetings with wonderful attendance where we were able to provide the families with resources that would be beneficial to them and have a wonderful time with other families participating in the HIPPY program. We are looking forward to another great year ahead.”
The Elmore County HIPPY program is approved to serve 60 families and is recruiting families now for 2025-2026.
“It is exciting to see all of the young children coming through the HIPPY program; especially exciting to see all my former students who are now parents participating in the program,” said Superintendent Dennis.
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) is a home-based school readiness program that helps parents prepare their preschool child for academic success. Parents are a child’s first teachers.
“Thank you to the parents for allowing us to assist them in preparing their child for kindergarten,” said Sherry Spigener, HIPPY Coordinator.
She continued, “Our parents have shown up and showed out this year! We have had great attendance at our group meetings, and they have worked diligently to complete the weekly activities. Thank you to our HIPPY’s Home Visitors who are Reyna Contreras, Amber Hoggard, Christy Dean, Allison Judah, Jennifer McEachern, and Amanda VanHouten. They do a remarkable job of preparing activities, visiting families, working with parents, and providing resources.”
HIPPY is currently pre-registering for next year. Please call Sherry Spigener at 334-567-1200 or email her at
[email protected]
if you are interested in participating in the HIPPY program. The 2025-2026 program will begin in early September.
