First days of school
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007 by AaronTuesday’s first day of school at Barstow Christian showed me that not much has changed since my first day as a senior in high school in 2001.
As I stood at the steps with students from Catherine Moore’s first-grade class, many talked about how much fun they had seeing their friends again and playing on the school’s playground equipment. Some showed me their new shoes, and other showed off new backpacks and folders. “Fun” was the word — if they said anything at all — when I asked how the first day went. First graders are either very talkative or very shy; there is no middle ground.
First days were always exciting for me in high school. As much as I enjoyed the summer mornings spent sleeping in, afternoons watching daytime television and evenings with friends — throw a summer job, band camp and mowing the lawn in there as well — I welcomed the change in routine and scenery of the new school year … for a day or so. There was always new stuff, new teachers, new students, new classes and new shoes. A summer of lawn mowing will destroy even the best of sneakers.
So not much changed, except that they, the first-graders, are small, and I, the reporter, am big. And not much will.
One parent I talked to, M.L. Baker, said her grandson, Noah Graham, 6, was a bit apprehensive about his first day of school. Noah sported new glasses on his first day, and Baker said kids that age worry about changes in their lives. However, Noah was all smiles as he walked down the steps and climbed into his grandma’s car. Apprehension about changes in life — even a first grader gets it.
Baker said she was taking Noah to Starbucks for a chocolate milk with whipped cream on top. Maybe I’ll stop by there on my way home.
— Aaron Aupperlee | Staff Writer
