Seymour Community Schools welcomed students back to classes Wednesday, and many students found themselves somewhere in the middle — between elementary and high school.
Seventh-graders Katelyn Wooten and Zoe Wischmeier were chatting outside the middle school with their band instruments Wednesday morning.
Wischmeier is a trombone player and Wooten plays alto saxophone in the school band.
Wooten was feeling a little nervous on the first day being new to the middle school, she said.
Wischmeier said she is looking forward to band and science this year at SMS.
Seymour Middle School eighth grade math teacher Craig Montgomery was wearing a yellow vest for bus duty Wednesday morning. He was out in front of the building greeting students and parents, answering their questions.
Montgomery, who has been teaching at the school for eight years, said the first day would consist of helping students get back into the swing of things and off of the summer schedule and onto the school schedule.
“Today in class, we’ll be talking about emergency procedures, like fire alarms, and they’ll get their Chromebooks and schedules,” he said. “Most of them already know the procedures and rules, but we still go over it for the new ones, and it’s important.”
Sixth-graders Bladymir Gonzales, Alex Villegas and Yasir Benitez sat on a bench in front of the school Wednesday morning waiting for the bus to pick them up and take them to the Seymour Middle School Sixth Grade Center.
Villegas and Benitez said they were pretty much ready for the new school year and had already met their teachers. Gonzales said for the most part, he is ready for school, too.
Angel Lopez brought his daughter, Jeidiangelyz Fonseca, who is in eighth grade this year.
“She’s nervous, and every year, she gets a little nervous on the first day,” Lopez said. “But by the second day, she’ll be all talkative and everything.”
Mindy Clay was inside directing students who were entering the building early. She teaches eighth grade U.S. history at the school and is excited for classes to begin and has several new techniques she wants to try out.
Helping out in the cafeteria where students were eating breakfast was Spanish teacher Ali Hawk, who noticed there were not as many students at breakfast as there normally are, but it might be due to being the first day of school, she said.
After the first bell rang, the halls were filled with students looking for their lockers, checking their schedules and trying to find their classes.
Jaylien Chandler, wearing a Harry Potter backpack, was at her locker with her friend and classmate, Brianna Bryant. Both girls are in eighth grade this year.
“I feel like it’s going to be a good year, and I’ve always had a good experience with school, except for a few minor things,” Bryant said.
Seventh-grader Petrona Sebastian needed some assistance finding her way around on the first day and received some help from library aide Felicity Watson.
Sebastian said she was a little nervous since she was new to the school, but looking at her schedule, she thought world geography sounded like it will be an interesting class.
Eighth grade teachers Audra Lorey and Matthew Martin were in the hallway to make themselves available in case any students needed directions or had questions.
Lorey teaches special education, and Martin is a social studies teacher.
Martin said they were helping direct the seventh-graders where to go because it’s a whole new world for them.
“We’re looking forward to a good school year,” Lorey said. “We see lots of smiling faces around here, so we’re ready.”
At 8:30 a.m., the announcements came on over the intercom, sharing information about parent meetings, sports tryouts, club meetings and more, ending with the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence.
Assistant Principal Laci Skidmore said they were excited to welcome seventh-graders to the middle school, and things went really smoothly Wednesday morning.
“The kids were coming in and were greeting us, telling us they were glad to be back in school,” she said. “It has been a really nice morning.”
Skidmore said the kids were really calm, even the ones who didn’t know where to go, so that’s a huge thing, especially for the staff.
“We challenged our staff to show kindness and greet students one-on-one throughout the day,” she said. “Our goal is to build a connected community of people right from the start.”