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The world seemed a lot bigger and lot simpler 14 years ago when Kimora Winters was just a happy pre-kindergarten student at Powell Elementary School in Raleigh.
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Now Winters, 18, is set to graduate from Broughton High School in Raleigh and study nursing at Winston-Salem University. But before she takes that next step, Winters was one of 19 Wake County high school seniors who returned to Powell Elementary on Wednesday to thank all who had helped them get a good start in school.
“I remember all the good memories and the good times and all the nice people here,” Winters said in an interview. “So I wanted to come back to just see everybody and show everybody the impact they have on my life to get me where I am today.”
The seniors, dressed in the cap and gown they’ll wear at graduation, walked the halls of Powell with the fifth-grade students who are moving on to middle school. Senior visits are an end-of-year tradition for elementary schools to celebrate the successes of their former students and to inspire their current students.
“Seeing all the little fifth-graders through kindergarteners, I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s like crazy. I was just here years ago. This is me, like years ago,’” said Jordyn Creecy, 17, a senior at Garner High School.
The seniors rushed to share phone numbers and social media accounts with their former teachers.
“I can have my teacher’s phone number now,” Winters told Johanna Jacobs, her former pre-K teacher.
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“You’re an adult now,” Jacobs replied.
“It’s amazing to see when she was just that little old sweet thing, stubborn, didn’t want to listen, and the great accomplishment now,” Jacobs said in an interview. “It’s very rewarding to see her walk through the halls.”
Semone Liquet no longer teaches at Powell. But Liquet returned to Powell to cheer on some of her former 5th-grade students who are now about to become high school graduates.
“It’s unreal to see how quickly they’ve grown, and just how mature they are, and how they all made the right choices in life,” Liquet said in an interview. “It’s really heartwarming, being like I said, that second mom to them.”
Winters — and Jacobs — can remember the tantrum she threw the first day in pre-kindergarten when her mom left. But Winters grew to love her time in Jacobs’ class.
“I miss it,” Winters said. “If I could come back, I’d be a Pre-Ker again.”
Pre-K was all rainbows, sprinkles and butterflies, Winters said. But Winters said life is now “bills and money, and this payment, and this payment.”
“My advice for Pre-K is to live in the moment and don’t rush growing up, because once you’re grown up, you’re going to want to go back,” Winters said.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 6:07 PM.