First day of school for me meant meeting teachers

During the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to watch parents or guardians bring their children back to school.

On Friday, Aug. 1, I watched as the principal and teachers at Hillcrest Elementary School welcomed students back. On Tuesday, Aug. 5, I made my way to Northwest Laurens Elementary School to see students dropped off at the front of the school or walked into the lobby where parents were not allowed to walk their child down to their room. Many watched as their little one slowly walked down to their new classroom, joining their new classmates for another year of fun and learning.

And on Thursday, Aug. 7, I was in front of Trinity Christian School watching as the headmaster and other administrators welcomed their students back to class. 

On all three mornings, heard the words, “Good morning” a lot as teachers and other staff from all three schools were excited and ready for that first day. Some of the students dressed in their back to school clothes were ready, some looked like they just woke up while others looked like they did not know what they were getting into but their parents dropped them off all the same. 

At one of the schools, I heard a little girl crying and thought she did not want her parents to leave. It turned out she did not want to leave her older brother who was going to class while she had to go back home.

First day of school memories for me are filled with waking up not knowing much about my teacher or classmates. A lot of that was because I spent the previous two weeks before the first day of school at my grandparent’s house in Toccoa. The end of our visit with them meant the beginning of school that next week, because we always started on Monday.

I recall walking into my fifth grade class on the first day with my mother. I was late to school because I had an orthodontist appointment that coincided with the first day of school. The classroom was quiet and my new classmates were working on an assignment. My mother asked the teacher what she had done to have everyone so quiet. She looked up and said something along the lines of, “They are fifth graders now. They know what to do.”

Not long after my mother left, and I was trying to catch up with my assignment, my new teacher stood in front of the room and said she wanted to go over the ground rules of the classroom. 

She pointed to her right and told us that was the storage room, also known as the doctor’s office. But it was not the kind of doctor’s office you went to for your health. It was the room students went to for an attitude adjustment. 

When a student misbehaved – and they will, she said, they will get to visit the doctor’s office and meet “Killer.” She then took out “Killer” which was her paddle with a lot of signatures on it. Every student who is paddled was then asked to sign it. There were a lot of signatures on “Killer.” By the end of my fifth grade year, “Killer” had some new signatures on it. My signature was not one of them.

My mother would always take my brother, sister and I to our first day of school. We had to ride the school bus home that afternoon and wake up early to catch the bus the next morning.

When I began playing trombone in sixth grade, I would have to carry it on the bus. Usually, the driver would let me place it at the front of the bus so that it would not take up more space at my seat. 

Our bus driver kind of had assigned seats with those in elementary school toward the front while middle school took up majority of the rest of the bus except for a few high school kids who did not yet have a car or way to get home besides the bus.

By the time I reached high school, I was in band camp and part of that week meant receiving your first six week’s schedule early and a chance to see your teachers if you wanted to. I do not remember ever wanting to pay an early visit because I had spent the first eight years of my education never meeting my teachers and everything had worked fine. 

Why start a new tradition just because I was entering the ninth grade?

While school has changed, it is still important for the young people in our community to receive an education. After all, they are our future teachers, doctors, preachers, first responders, city council, board of education, commissioners and leaders for our community. Right now they are learning to one day eventually get a job and hopefully return to our area and help make a difference. The future mayor, sheriff, hospital administrator, president of the United States and other big-time occupations are right now in the classrooms across our country.  

Since I’ve been a reporter, I have been to the first day of school many times. It is fun to get to a school early and hear how quiet it is. Teachers and staff are smiling, laughing and eager to open the doors. Outside those doors are parents who would have probably camped out if they could, ready for summer vacation to officially be over and see those school lights turned on again.

I take many pictures capturing the hugs between teachers and students and the smiles when friends see each other for the first time in a long time. Officials point students to where they need to be and parents walk out of the school building – some excited and some trying not to tear up as they have to make it into the parking lot to head off to work.

What I like about the first day of school now is I have the opportunity to take pictures of everything that goes on that morning. 

And when the bell rings and the school work begins, I can simply walk out the front door, get into my car and drive away.