Thousands of students head back to classrooms
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 25, 2008 1:38 PM
Wayne County students gathered their bookbags, donned new clothes and headed out the door today as the county school district opened its 2008-09 school year this morning.
News-Argus/Bobby Williams
Jinger Haskett, left, a first-year kindergarten teacher at Brogden Primary School, watches as Natividad Domingo Lopez helps her daughter, Selina Pablo Domingo, 5, write her name during the opening of classes early today.
At Goldsboro Intermediate School a few minutes past 7 a.m., staff began greeting buses and waited for the signal to escort children into the building.
Starres Davis had just dropped off son, Keyauntae, a fifth-grader, and was walking back home to do the same with his siblings.
"I feel wonderful," she said. "I've got two more I have got to do."
The hardest part, she said, was, "getting back used to getting up early."
School took in at 7:30 at Goldsboro High School.
Joshua Phillips, a junior, agreed that it's an adjustment waking up earlier than during the summer break, but he still faces the new year optimistically.
"It's a chance for you to meet new friends," he said.
Senior Dominique Sauls said was looking forward to his first day, too.
"This is my last year, so, of course, I'm excited," he said. "I'm ready to get in and get as much done as I can."
T'Corey Whitfield is also a senior but is "back from a different school."
"I'm very excited, but I can still get the butterflies," he said. "I'm just hoping I can have a good day and get my classes right."
Tenth-grader Jacob Smith had similar thoughts.
"This is a new school for me, too," he said. "I went to Rosewood last year."
While he knew a couple people, he was more concerned about his class schedule, which he hadn't received yet.
The school's resource officer, Nicki Artis, greeting students and staff in the hallway near the office, approached the first day positively.
"I'm kind of glad to be here this morning, starting off a new year -- proactive, alert," he said. "I'm kind of excited just to see the kids, see them come back safe and sound."
Mom Annette Hobbs accompanied her two children -- Artese Best, a sophomore, and Auston Hobbs, a junior.
"I'm excited they're going back," she said. "They're excited, ready to go back. They jumped up and were ready before I was."
Meadow Lane Elementary School has a later start, at 8:20.
Nicole Johnson strolled through the parking lot with daughter, Trinity Burke, a first-grader. The family recently moved here from Atlanta.
The transition has been good so far, Ms. Johnson said, having attended open house and gotten things squared away before the first day.
The only slowdown was getting out of bed.
"We were sleepy," she said. "A little doughnuts and TV and we got up all right."
Kurtis Alston, 9, stood in the hall near his classroom waiting to be allowed in, his mother close by. It's a new school for the fourth-grader, but his cousin also goes there.
Kurtis likes school. His favorite subjects, he said, are "math, reading, social studies and writing."
Rachel Renn, 8, wearing her favorite High School Musical T-shirt, was escorted by her parents, Vickie and William Renn.
The third-grader was "ready to go," her mom said. "She has been excited all week, getting ready for today."
Older brother Matthew, a fourth-grader, had already been dropped off at his classroom.
Now it was Rachel's turn. While math might be her favorite subject, it's not what she's most looking forward to tackling.
That, she says, would be "writing my cursive because I really need to learn it a lot."
Cody Bruegger, 8, is just looking forward to some fun in school. The third-grader walked alongside younger brother, Jesse, a kindergartner.
But the day perhaps most belonged to mom April.
"I have been looking forward to this," she admitted. "I go to school full-time and online full-time so all summer, it was me, homework, kids."