South Whittier School District parents graduated from the PIQE program on Tuesday, November 5, at Lake Marie Elementary celebrating their completion of this nine-week parent workshop.
The PIQE program stands for Parent Institute for Quality Education. The objective of this nine-week workshop is to help parents gain knowledge and skills to be able to partner with their child’s school and community to ensure their children achieve their full potential.
The PIQE’s program engages with parents to empower and transform them to be active in their child’s education. They hold strong values including; knowledge is power, take responsibility, and respecting families by honoring and valuing parent participation and perspective.
At this graduation event 21 parent graduates were acknowledged and celebrated for their achievements in completing the program. The ceremony included parent speakers Martha Mireya Calderón, Magaly Duran, Romona Mercado, and Sonia Carter.
One parent shared, “The school can not be alone. They need us. Everything is possible with discipline and love and the most important force in education is when parents and teachers work together.”
After the speakers, all graduates were acknowledged and presented with a certificate of achievement. When the ceremony concluded all attendees got to celebrate with food and desserts.
PIQE’s ultimate goal is, “Educating, empowering, and inspiring parents of K–12 school age children to take an active role in encouraging and enabling their children to: Stay in school; Improve their academic performance; Develop healthy and constructive relationships with their parents, teachers, and counselors; and, focus/prepare themselves for a post-secondary education.”
The program’s vision is dedicated to, “Achieving economic and social equality for all through education.”