Parents and friends photograph some of the 52 graduating students from the sixth grade at the Carl Lauro Elementary School in Providence. The graduation was held at the Renaissance Hotel, which contributes to the school. This fall, hotel employees will volunteer at the school.

The Providence Journal Steve Szydlowski

PROVIDENCE — Monday was a special day for the 52 graduates of the Carl G. Lauro School, the state’s largest elementary school and one of its poorest.

The sixth graders arrived at the luxury Renaissance Providence Hotel wearing rented tuxedos and sparkly dresses, strapless gowns and suits that spilled over their sneakers. The parents, their English salted with Spanish words, were accompanied by aunts, uncles and younger siblings.

Instead of walking across the stage at Carl Lauro, a school built nearly 100 years ago in Federal Hill for a different generation of immigrants, these sixth graders celebrated in the Symphony Ballroom, with its towering ceilings, flocked golden wallpaper and cut-glass chandelier.

“I didn’t sleep all night,” said 12-year-old Kimberly Olivos.

“I had butterflies in my stomach,” said her friend, Vesaira Dominquez. “I couldn’t wait until Monday.”

As the students filed in to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” a standing-room-only crowd applauded wildly and snapped photographs.

“It’s nice to see the kids have a special place to graduate,” said Joanne Harris, whose two daughters, Jasmine and Aneesa, received diplomas. “It’s a chance for the community to give something back.”

The ceremony wouldn’t have been possible without the Renaissance Hotel, which adopted the Federal Hill school several months ago as part of a corporate-wide program called “Best in Class,” which pairs Sage Hospitality hotels with local schools.

At Monday’s ceremony, Angelo DePeri, the hotel’s general manager, handed principal Robin Mathis a $1,000 check, which the school will use to buy trinkets to reward students who exhibit respectful behavior, part of the district’s positive behavior intervention and support program.

“Best in Class provides us with a distinct opportunity to establish deeper partnerships and connections in the community where we live and work,” DePeri said. “Not only does the program benefit the school, but our employees enjoy the opportunity to help the local community, especially the children.”

Starting this fall, hotel employees will volunteer at Carl Lauro as math and reading buddies and they will be trained by the nonprofit Volunteers in Providence Services. The Renaissance has already donated 300 books to the school library and DePeri said that another check is in the offing.

Carl Lauro is like the Little Engine that Could. After years of chronically low student performance, the 800-student school finally made adequate yearly progress this year, hitting each one of its 25 academic targets.

In 2005, a team of outside evaluators described Carl Lauro as a school where “a strong sense of community permeates the classes and hallways,” a school where children learn from their own failures and those of their peers.

“Students love this school and their teachers,” the team wrote. “Parents report that even after moving to a different neighborhood, their children continue to want to attend Carl Lauro.”

The preK-6 school operates on the assumption that every child shines in his or her own way and so there were awards for the most improved and the most athletic, for the highest math scores and the most books read, for perfect attendance and for the best personality.

The guest speaker was Felix Santana, the hotel’s front desk clerk and a Lauro alumnus (Class of 1986), who rushed back from National Guard duty in California to attend the event.

“Do not give up,” he told them. “I never did.”

lborg@projo.com