Fresh new year ahead

With incredible communal events celebrating Thanksgiving and Chanukah, Preschool of the Arts’ 2022 ended on an incredibly high note. We were proud to welcome hundreds of guests, family members and many friends to our grand Thanksgiving performance, which took place in Cambier Park. Our audience was regaled with songs and special video presentations from our precious children, all surrounding the theme of “Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice.” From the fantastic musical performances to peeks into the children’s day to catching up with friends over delicious pumpkin spice coffee, we were filled with gratitude for every moment.

Our annual Chanukah Festival in late December welcomed an even broader audience as guests joined us from the Greater Naples community. This special holiday event is always a highlight for our preschool students, who had an additional opportunity to perform classic Chanukah songs for an adoring crowd. This year our festival theme was “Chanukah at the Circus” as we celebrated “the greatest party on earth” with grand fanfare. An overwhelming turnout from the Naples Jewish community, exciting activities, games, treats, delicious food and a very large custom Ferris Wheel menorah ensured a Chanukah extravaganza that won’t soon be forgotten!

We enter the new year filled with appreciation for our incredible Naples community, the members of which continue to support us and our children time and time again.

2023 marks a turning point for our school as we set out on a massive expansion of our campus with our Big Build project. The Big Build is a capital campaign that will fund a new 17,000-square-foot building with new classrooms, a children’s library, a STEM center and many other exciting spaces for our children.

Over the past 12 years, POTA has been blessed to be a part of the educational journey of hundreds of children — some of whom are now starting high school! We are humbled by how quickly we have outgrown our facility and are so excited that the Big Build project will allow us to offer the POTA experience to many more families.

I am deeply grateful to Jay and Patty Baker, the founding donors of the campaign with a generous $2 million challenge grant, for believing in our vision for excellence in early childhood education. I am also so grateful to the many others in our community who have stepped up in a major way with their generosity. I am thrilled to share that we have successfully passed the halfway mark of our $6 million campaign and we are eagerly looking forward to breaking ground on the building this calendar year.

It is parents, grandparents and stakeholders who wholeheartedly believe in our school’s mission that brought about our tremendous growth and who will continue building a strong future for our children. If you would like to learn more about the Big Build or join POTA’s community of benefactors passionate about building the future of Jewish Naples, please visit www.NaplesBigBuild.com.

Enrollment is now open (and quickly filling up!) for Preschool of the Arts 2023-2024. We are honored by the overwhelming response and encourage prospective applicants to register before all our spaces are filled.

Enrollment is also open for our acclaimed Summer of the Arts program, which welcomes children up to age 8. This year’s theme will be STEAMsational as our campers learn to dream of STEAM! Visit www.naplespreschoolofthearts.com to learn more.

We cannot wait for a fresh new year ahead — there are so many adventures to come!