Monroe children start the school year
By: Lacey Korevec
MONROE My Little Pony backpacks with pink and purple pony hair trailing in the wind, a rainbow of different colored lunch bags and boxes featuring popular characters like Spider-man and SpongeBob SquarePants, hip denim skirts, the coolest striped collared shirts, and about 600 students surrounded Mill Lake School on Wednesday morning.
Many stood with parents in hand, while others exchanged hugs, chatted about snacks packed in their lunches, and practiced cheerleading moves, while waiting for the building’s doors to open, signaling the official beginning of a new school year.
Second-grader Max Cohen was among the first to arrive. He said he looks forward to the rest of the year because he is excited about learning, playing, eating lunch, finding new friends and being able to go home at the end of each school day to play with his mom. Most of all, however, he is interested in learning some new math.
"In second grade you get to learn division and multiply," he said. "You have new math, harder minuses and harder homework."
Third-grader Linda Marcano said she missed her friends over the summer and was glad to get back and start learning. She especially is excited about learning cursive.
"I wanted to go back to school," she said. "I was happy to wake up this morning. I couldn’t wait to go."
Her mother, Nicole Caruso, agreed that Linda was psyched about the first day back.
"She woke up and was ready to go," she said. "She was ready to go out the door at 8:15. She couldn’t wait to get here and see who was in here and see who was in her class and meet her teacher."
Linda is Ms. Caruso’s oldest child, and while she is excited to see her daughter start a new year, she always feels a little sentimental around September.
"It’s exciting that she’s going to be graduating this year and starting at Woodland next year," she said. "It’s very exciting for everybody and sad at the same time. My baby’s getting older."
Not all students were thrilled about returning to an early schedule. Madison Lipoff is also a new third-grader who said she realized Tuesday night that she needed to get used to the change.
"I was a little nervous because the next day I had to wake up and go straight to school," she said. "Over the summer, I woke up at like 10, sometimes 9:30."
Though she managed to wake up without a problem, there were still a few other issues that made Madison uneasy before she entered the building.
"I’m a little scared because I don’t know if we have homework today," she said.
Homework is something Madison looks forward to staying on top of this year, she said. She has big plans to stay focused and complete her work as soon as she gets home each day.
"I have to do it right after I get home so that, when you’re done, you can have fun."
Though she is sad that her three children are back in school for the year and won’t be around the house as much, Liz Lipoff, Madison’s mother, said having the kids come home and spend time together is one of her favorite things.
"It’s really nice when they come home and they all sit around and do their homework together," she said. "It’s comforting because I cook dinner while they do homework and we’re all together."
With Madison being her youngest, Ms. Lipoff said she is disappointed to begin her last year as a Mill Lake mom.
"It’s a new beginning," she said. "Another year of learning. They’re getting older. It goes so fast. One day they’re in kindergarten, the next day they’re in seventh grade."