What does the first day of school look like for an Edgewood freshman and first grader?

The sun was still rising Wednesday morning as students began to arrive at Edgewood schools for the first day of the new school year.

The new year comes with plenty of change, from building additions in the high school to 35 new teachers across the district — that's about 15 more than usual, said Brittany Tucker, communications coordinator for the Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. Perhaps the biggest change is the lack of masks and contact tracing, as the district voted last spring to relax its COVID-19 guidelines.

In the midst of obstacles such as a national teacher and staff shortage, rising mental health issues and the potential of another COVID-19 surge, the first day of school is full of nervous excitement and new opportunities for students of all ages.

Freshman looking forward to first 'normal' year since sixth grade

Cars trickle into the student lot before 7 a.m., about 30 minutes before class is set to begin. Students are playing music, chatting in the back of pickup trucks and hugging each other through their friends’ car windows.

Inside, it can be hard to spot a freshman in the crowd, but there are some telltale signs. More often, they wander a little slower in the hallways, unsure of the school's layout. They're a little less chatty — maybe due to nerves, maybe because they don’t know as many people, maybe they’re just focused.

Avery Dunham’s NASA keychain jingles against her backpack as she walks down the hallway. It’s her first day as a freshman at Edgewood High School. She makes a few U-turns before finally finding her first class: geography with teacher Garry Lee.

New renovations to the high school mean the classrooms sometimes aren’t lined up in logical order anymore. Navigating through the new building was Avery’s main concern, she said, but high school doesn’t otherwise feel too different from junior high. Besides a few classmates who have come and gone throughout the years, she’s spent most of her life with the same group. She’s also in the same building as her older sisters, Cailin and Ella, again.

Still, Avery’s school experience so far has been far from average. The last time she started a school year without wearing a mask, without a pandemic at the forefront of her mind, she was in sixth grade.

“It’s going to be nice to kind of start the year with what’s quote unquote normal,” she said. “And, personally, I actually like school, so I’m excited. All my friends are there, and I’m a very scheduled person … so I like knowing what I’m going to do every day.”

Despite all that’s changed in recent years, conversations inside the school walls are refreshingly familiar. Avery talks with a classmate about getting their drivers’ licenses — she won't even turn 14 until September, so she has a while, she says. Students take turns telling their homeroom teacher what they did over the summer — Avery went to space camp.

She thinks about how she's going to pester her sisters in the hallway, even though they'll probably pretend they don't know her. She banters with Mr. Lee in geography.

“Dunham,” he calls out. “Are you the last of the three?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“I like your sisters.”

“I don’t,” she says sarcastically.

Soon enough, the bell rings and she’s off to her next class — if she can find it.

First day of first grade brings nerves, but mostly excitement

Down the road at Edgewood Primary School, the atmosphere is calmer. The kindergarteners aren’t in school yet, so just about everyone else has been in the building before. Augie Oresko, on his first day of first grade, is already a professional.

“I think it’s going to be pretty much the same as kindergarten,” he said, “but I’m excited to make new friends.”

In Jessica Newman’s first grade class, she's getting down to the basics, such as how to put backpacks away and quietly line up at the door. Meanwhile, Augie colors in his nametag with a blue marker and clicks his new blue and green Sketchers that glow in the dark.

Ms. Newman asks the students to introduce themselves with their name and their favorite Disney movies. “'Zootopia,'” Augie says, “and is ‘Lord of the Rings’ a Disney movie?”

Augie's one disappointment is there's no math — his favorite subject — on the first day. He wants to learn multiplication this year.

“Like, I already know that three times four is 12,” he says. “I know that because my dad taught me.”

He already feels good about first grade, but there are some things he’s nervous about. What happens if he makes a mistake? Or what happens if he forgets to pay attention?

Maybe first grade will be more challenging than he thought, he says, followed by a shrug.

“I’m still mostly excited.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Richland-Bean Blossom schools start first day of 2022-2023 school year