Back To School: May This Be The Best Year Ever

The school building in the fall, before the children arrive, has a distinct aroma. It has greeted me for more than thirty years. Perhaps it is because my sense of smell is so strong (my nose isn’t so large for purely aesthetic reasons), that it is my first, and one of my strongest, memories of the start of the school year. The building itself has put on its first-day-of-school best waiting to make a good first impression. The classrooms shine with wax and new decorations. The staff’s arms are open wide to receive all students in a place that feels like a second home.

Each year, by the time the middle of August, I found myself yearning to return to school. I started making little trips into the building. I copied schedules for my freshman theatre class. I set up my classrooms. I got my desk ready. Even though I promised myself that I would not, I kept updating my class lists despite the fact they were constantly changing and thus needed more updating. I couldn’t help myself.

After I graduated from high school and since I lived close to my university, I found myself on my college campus over the summer even when I had no need. My former students who are returning to college have told me over and over that they are ready to return. They have had enough summer and want to get back to campus, their friends, and the experiences that make college so wonderful. I know the feeling. 

The gravity of school is powerful and it pulls us back. It is the center of our orbits, even when we are no longer students – or teachers. The start of the school year is, for many, the real “new year.” It is the real transformation and the real change of season. It is exciting and rejuvenating.

As my colleagues prepare to return to their classrooms and my younger students, all former now, prepare to go back to their studies, I have mixed feelings. I will miss them. I will miss the morning rush and the new faces. I will miss the first week updates on the building and the new initiatives. I will miss greeting those wonderful faces coming through the classroom door, the hundreds of new names to learn, and the joy of reunions. I will miss the excitement of opening up the present of a new lesson, of being able to look at kids and honestly tell them that I have something special to explore with them!

My thoughts are with those of you who are going back to school- elementary, middle, high school, college, daycare, preschool, adult education, vocational, or anything else! I share in your anticipation of the year ahead. I remember the special joy of starting all over.

The new school year is a noble endeavor. It is an affirmation of all that is right and good in the world and in this country, even in times of turmoil. We can start again. We can work to help people become their best and most enlightened selves. We can share our passion for the improvement and growth of others. We can look into fresh faces and help them make their way ahead, learn that life is good, that people are here to support them, and that the future is theirs.

May the 2019-2020 school year bring you joy and connection. May your students, teachers, colleagues, and friends help you learn and grow and discover the best in yourself and the best in them. May the new school year reaffirm your noblest goals and passions, and may it transform you and therefore transform the world.