by Greg Cunningham
Anticipation and Anxiety
Maybe it was the new outfit or the new shoes. Or the anticipation of meeting new friends and reuniting with old ones. Maybe it was the ritual of standing on the front steps early that morning posing for the iconic picture. Whatever it was, that familiar tremor of anxiety still creeps into our psyche at the approach of September.
However you remember your first days of school, they are and have always been a universal ritual in our society. Posed pictures from the front yard are flooding social media as long summer days wane toward fall.
Students have always anticipated the first day of school with some trepidation, wondering which friends will be in their classes and who they will find in the cafeteria to eat lunch with. It may surprise them to discover that their teachers approach the day with their own level of anxiety. One teacher commented that you could call any teacher any time the night before the first day of school and know they are awake.
Administrators have their own marching orders for Day One: “Get students in, get them fed, get them to their classes, get them on the right bus home,” as a former principal explained to me. Day two is always easier than day one, he qualified.
Whether your role on the first day of school is student, teacher, administrator, or front porch paparazzo, we wish everyone a safe and aspirational start to School Year 2024-25.
