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AUBURN, Mass. – Nearly 2,400 Auburn students took the school bus, were dropped off by their parents, walked or drove themselves on a beautiful bright and sunny first day of school on Wednesday.
“It’s like New Year’s Day,” said Auburn High School Assistant Principal Eileen Donahue. “It’s a new beginning. It’s a chance for all students, faculty and staff to start anew, so that’s always exciting.
“Today we celebrate and look forward to a fabulous year, full of optimism and a clean slate for everybody. It’s a nice way to begin,” Donahue added.
Incoming freshmen will be confused and have questions, but there is “plenty of help to transition them into high school,” she said. The school held an orientation for freshmen and their parents on Tuesday night.
While the high school welcomed freshmen, Mary D. Stone Elementary School and Bryn Mawr Elementary School greeted kindergarten students.
“All of us are going to keep an extra special eye on them,” said Mary D. Stone Principal Elizabeth Chase. “We’re asking our first and second graders to kind of be the mentors for them and to be model students for them. The kindergartners acclimate themselves pretty quickly.”
Bryn Mawr Principal Beth Chamberland said there are usually some kindergartners who are crying as they got dropped off, but there were no incidents today.
“We usually have someone that won’t leave their mom, but we didn’t have any,” Chamberland said. “We had a few who you could tell were a little apprehensive, but they all went readily and were excited to come. There were no big issues today. It went very smoothly.”
It’s not only students who may be feeling jittery on the first day. Chamberland said the faculty and staff feel like every student with that “funny feeling in the pit of their stomach on the first day of school.”
“Even though we are the teachers and staff, we feel the same way,” she said. “We get excited about the new kids coming, and there are a lot of students who we don’t know. But it’s just great to have kids back in the building, so everyone’s happy to be back and get rolling.”
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