On June 22, the fifth grade students from Woodridge Elementary School had their “flying up” ceremony as they prepared to leave elementary school behind and move on in their educational journeys to middle school and beyond.

For one of the school’s outgoing parents, Rachel Marchetti, the ceremony marked the end of her own journey as an elementary school parent as well. The parent of three children, all of whom have attended Woodridge, Marchetti, a local business owner, and her family have been an integral part of the school community for 13 years. Just after her oldest son, Jeffrey graduated from Cranston High School West the previous weekend, her youngest son Jake, was now moving on from elementary school, marking the end of an era at Woodridge. Her middle son, Max, will be going into ninth grade in the fall.

PTO President Lisa Mancini and her PTO colleagues arranged a surprise presentation to honor former PTO vice president Marchetti for her years of service and dedication to the school.

“Today, the fifth grade students had their flying up ceremony, and I had the pleasure of saying a few words as the PTO president to the children and also to Rachel Marchetti to honor her for all her hard work and dedication to Woodridge School since 2005,” Mancini said.

In her speech, Mancini chronicled her relationship with Rachel Marchetti from the time her oldest son Jeffrey was in the first grade, and her own daughter a kindergartener, to the present day.

“I just spent weeks of my life celebrating this man with his senior graduation parade through the halls of Woodridge, his senior prom and I was so honored when he asked me to attend his high school graduation as his guest,” she said, noting that along the way through their journey, Jeffrey asked Lisa to meet his mom, who was “really nice.”

“Really nice is just the surface of what Rachel is,” Mancini said. “She is a wife, mother, daughter, sister, community helper, scout mom, baseball coach, multi-dollar business owner, PTO board member and what I like to call one of my best friends. Champion for all things good in the world, when Sandy Hook occurred, it devastated Rachel and she did all she could and was able to have the buddy bench installed outside our school. With regard to the PTO and her endless hours of volunteerism, Rachel has held many positions on the PTO board and has been in charge of many things that happen in our school.” Mancini listed several of the things Marchetti had been involved in over the years, including fundraising, special events, fifth and sixth grade yearbook committees, Woodridge Wednesdays, buddy bench, Trex Recycling Challenge, tile wall, Trunk or Treat, the variety show, field day, after school activities to benefit the yearbook committee, Feinstein Year in Review newsletter, bake sales, serving as Vice President, and more.

“She guided her son Jeffrey when he wanted to have his Eagle scout project benefit Woodridge, and we all painted the blacktop in the scorching heat of 2017,” she said. “She’s got a baseball tan for spending hours on the field or in the stands supporting her sons Max and Jake. Rachel is part of the Fab Five, a group of women who support each other who are raising our children to see what good friends are, who love unconditionally and respect each other immensely.”

Mancini closed by creating an acronym out of Marchetti’s name: Ringleader, reliable, respectful, awesome, amazing, caring, cute, helpful, hardworking, energetic, enthusiastic, loyal, loving, likeable.

Both Mayor Allan Fung on behalf of the City of Cranston and the State of Rhode Island Senate’s Hanna Gallo recognized Marchetti with special citations in honor of her 13 years of exceptional and dedicated service to the school.