Walking the hall at Evergreen Primary School, third-grade teacher Amy Cooper reflected on what makes the first day of school so special: how the students gaze at her like a superstar, how quiet they are, and how much pride they take in their new school supplies.
No matter that all this will fade with familiarity as the weeks fly by in the University Place School District.
“You look at their faces and it always takes you back,” Cooper said.
More than 5,000 students enrolled in UP schools were among the first to return to the classroom Tuesday as morning rains sent a signal that summer is over. Franklin Pierce Schools also began the school year Tuesday. Through next week, tens of thousands of students in Pierce County will return from summer vacation. The Tacoma School District, the area’s largest with more than 30,000 students, begins classes Thursday.
The faces, clothing and buildings might change, but the emotions shared among students and adults alike are timeless.
“It’s still the same,” said Donna Zelazny, secretary at Curtis Junior High School, who attended the school more than four decades ago and had enrolled her two children there. “It hasn’t changed much.”
Last year, the start of the school carried added anticipation as it was the first year in Curtis Junior High’s new $55 million building. About 50 teachers instruct slightly more than 1,000 eighth- and ninth-graders enrolled there.
“We’ve had a whole year to work the bugs out and learn how everything works,” Principal Jeff Chamberlin said.
That familiarity was largely lost on the nearly 500 eighth-graders navigating the wide halls in the large school for the first time Tuesday. Chamberlin and staff spent the morning directing students to classrooms and helping them open their lockers. Aiding them were more than 70 ninth-graders trained as “ambassadors.”
Jonathan Butler, 14, an eighth-grader new to the district after moving from California, appeared to resign himself to the inevitability that the coming of Labor Day brings.
“It’s a pretty neat school,” he said while waiting for an assembly to help students get their bearings and instill in them the school’s core values of safety, respect and excellence.
At Evergreen Primary School, Principal Lance Goodpaster and his staff spent part of their day instructing students on use of the lunchroom. The school enrolls more than 500 students, preschool through fourth grade.
Goodpaster told the fourth-graders he will rely on them to show the younger students the meaning of school pride.
His message stuck with at least one student.
“We’re the older kids, so that’s what I’m excited about, and it’s our last year of elementary school,” said Sydney Petro, 9.
Teacher Tiffany Matthies looked forward to a year of getting to know more than 20 new charges and forming a team to learn together.
“It’s nerve-racking, but it’s so exciting,” she said. “I love it.”
Christian Hill: 253-274-7390 christian.hill@thenewstribune.com.
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