Back to school blues

"Second-grader Kaila Griswold shows her excitement to be back at school following summer vacation as she watches other students in Kathy Wilson's class unpack their supplies at Vincent Farms Elementary School on Monday, Aug.25. The new school opened its doors for the first time Monday."

New book bag. Check. New lunch box. Check. New crayons. Check. Summer over. Check.

School has unofficially begun in Maryland and students from kindergarten to college are packing their book bags and dreaming of the beach as they now listen to their professors ramble.

For myself, I am wrapping up my undergrad with a class two mornings a week. That doesn't go to say that I won't be anxious to get back in the classroom like I've always been on the first day of class.

The first day of school always had a certain feel to it. Hard to put into words, the morning has always been a brisk and damp one as I made the commute into class.

I always wondered who would be in my classes, what the professor will be like and what sort of new routine I would have to develop to stay on top of things.

While most of those questions raced through my brain each semester, I can't really recall what I thought the first day each year grade school began. Nonetheless, I got a glimpse of what it might have been like though as I got to shoot the first day of school in Baltimore County last week.

After strolling through the IKEA styled school (seriously, I felt as if I was in a friends apartment rather than a classroom) with the reporter, I made my way out to see students be dumped off of the big yellow buses.

While some students screamed from windows waving at fellow pupils, others gazed from the windows at their new school. It was endearing to see such a scared faced as they peered from the windows of the bus.

As they trekked to their classrooms, the reporter and I decided to stick with one class. Again, funny and cute, most of the students instead of worrying about their class load and difficulty of text books, these children were more worried about if they had enough crayons to last them the first day of school.

Of course, there the full range of students in the class. The quiet little girl diligently doing her work, the half asleep girl who needed a Red Bull didn't want to be in school (above...and usually what I probably look like) and the wild child who the teacher was dreading having in class.

I had to watch myself as I made photos for the first 25 minutes of school because everything these students did just made me laugh. The silly questions they asked, the things they said and did. It was comical, but reminded me that I could never be a teacher; especially in an elementary school.

After witnessing my share of classrooms through the years, I've decided to write to my favorite teachers from elementary school through college to thank them for what they've done to help mold and teach me after I am done college.

As for my schooling, I'll admit, although eager to move onto the next step of my life, I'll miss it. From the moment I walked into kindergarten I've had a miniature world at my disposal, with very few real world 1restrictions or pressures. In short, I could do what I wanted.

But now as my days of being a student come to an end (unless I pursue grad school) I'll miss that independence. Sure I'll be able to still "do what I want," however, it will be time to grow up and take on a new chapter as I search for a suitable career in journalism.