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<< Previous   of   Next >> Dan Bates / The Herald  (click to enlarge) The faces of kids reveal a variety emotions, including some first-day jitters, as their bus pulls up in front of Mountain Way Elementary School in Granite Falls for the first day of school on Tuesday. Dan Bates / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Parents watch their first-graders file into teacher, Robyn Ross’ classroom on their first day at Mountain Way Elementary School Tuesday morning in Granite Falls.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, September 2, 2009 1st day of school: plenty of jitters to go around Students aren't the only ones who are anxious By Eric Stevick Herald Writer GRANITE FALLS — After more than three decades as a principal, Cathie West still feels nervous before the first day of school. Such was the case Monday when she wondered what she should wear Tuesday when classes opened at Mountain Way Elementary School in Granite Falls. West woke at 3 a.m. fretting over tiny last-minute details and was up by 5 a.m., three hours and 20 minutes before classes started for the year. “Opening day is like Christmas,” West said. “Opening school is like opening presents. These children are our gifts.” More than 500 of them. On Tuesday, lines of silent first-grade students marching down the hall to the cafeteria weren't exactly ramrod straight, but they were pin-drop silent. A few little boys sobbed as they got off their yellow school buses, feeling the separation anxiety West expects to see every first day. First-grader Kaleb Larsen, 6, was glad to be back to school. “New teacher, new classroom, new everything,” he said. “I'm excited.” Kaleb savored his first home-made lunch of the school year that included a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a banana, blueberry yogurt and cheese. The M&M cookie would have to wait until later in the day. “I don't want to miss recess,” he explained. His classmates in Room A-6 learned the lay of the land with a scavenger hunt and teacher Robyn Ross, beginning her 10th year in the first grade, read a book to the class about first-day jitters. Even she gets them, she said. “The first couple of days they are very quiet and then their true colors come out,” Ross said. Granite Falls and Lakewood were the first public schools to open in Snohomish County for fall quarter on Tuesday. Darrington, Mukilteo and Northshore are set to open today and Stanwood is scheduled to begin class on Thursday. Other districts will open classrooms after Labor Day. At Granite Falls High School, freshmen had the campus largely to themselves, getting advice and tours from student leaders in the junior and senior classes. The rest of the student body is scheduled to report to school today. The upperclassmen also led groups of freshmen through team-building exercises that paraded them down hallways wearing goofy attire, including Burger King crowns, bird hats with long orange beaks and Mardi Gras masks. Junior Brandon Gilbertson, 16, well remembers the first-day-of-school feeling of being a wide-eyed freshman, thankful for some guidance “that kept me from getting completely lost.” On Tuesday, he and senior Kaitlan Howell, 17, were doing their best to make the ninth-grade newcomers feel welcome and ready. “It's not middle school any more,” Gilbertson said. “There is a lot more pressure to perform. It has a lot more meaning for later in life.” Howell urged the freshmen to get involved in their school. “They need to get out of their comfort zones and really enjoy high school,” she said. Megan Davis, 14, had been looking forward to her first day of high school all summer. She had a friend over Monday night, and the pair, who didn't fall asleep until 3 a.m., woke up by 5:15 a.m. Entering high school she worries most about maintaining high grades and isn't concerned about trying to impress her peers. “I've found I fit in a lot better when I'm myself,” she said. “It's a lot easier.” On his first day, fellow freshman Austin Berg, 15, said he was excited to meet new people and be in a bigger school. The most important lesson he learned on his first day had nothing to do with math, English or science. “It's just never to be mean to the older people, like the seniors and juniors,” he said. Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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