South Point students discuss first day of kindergarten

 

SOUTH POINT — It was the beginning of a new world for 26 kids in South Point on Friday.

The students, who make up Courtney Esque’s class, arrived for their first day of school in the morning, one of three kindergarten classes at South Point Elementary School.

By afternoon, the group had enjoyed their initial time at the school and were wrapping up their day by enjoying cupcakes at their tables.

“Quiet people go first,” Esque said, as she handed out the cupcakes, letting the children choose between chocolate and vanilla.

Luke Cahal shared his thoughts on his favorite part of the experience, as he enjoyed the snack.

“I liked riding the bus,” he said, adding that he had been in the school before, but not as a student.

“Everybody likes the bus,” Braylie Murdock agreed.

Cahal said his favorite part of the day was playing outside. The playground was a popular part of the day for most of the class, a sentiment shared by Cassidy McComas, Rayshaun Hall, Ryley Prentice and Mariah Kersey.

Keondre Garred explained his favorite part of it.

“There are things you can spin and run and it goes,” he said excitedly. He was also proud of his clothes for the day.

“I got new shoes,” he said.

Paisley Craft was particularly proud of her new pencil box, decorated with her name.

“They’re glitter,” she said of the lettering.

Several of the students were eager to show off their new backpacks, which they hung in their own cubby holes along the wall.

“I got Blaze!” Anthony Ferguson said, holding up his monster truck-themed pack.

“And I got The Flash” he said, pointing to his new shirt.

“Mine says ‘OMG!’” Kersey said, showing off her colorful pack, decorated with the letters. She said she had already made two new friends in the class, Kaylee Spears and “another girl,” whose name she “can’t remember yet.”

The students said they had a good time, despite initial nervousness about being away from their parents.

“I was scared, but I’m not now” Tyler Aliff said.

Although it may be a bit early for such decisions, many of the children said they already know what they want to be when they grow up.

“A cop,” Travis McMillion said.

Two said they wanted to be doctors, while a few were thinking outside of the box.

“A dolphin trainer,” Craft said.

And Cassidy McComas also had a choice that might be a unique field of study.

“I want to be a mermaid,” she said.

Esque, who is starting her sixth year teaching at the school, said, with a new class, it does not take long to get to know the group.

“I have to label everything we use before we begin, so I learn the names fast,” she said.

She said some of the students now in the fifth grade class, the school’s oldest, were among her first at the school.

The kindergarten students began classes on Friday, one day after the school’s first through fifth grades started, administrative assistant Bill Christian said. On Thursday, the kindergarten classrooms were open for parent visits.

Students at the school will soon see a new addition to the campus, Christian said. A reading pavilion, comprised of a garden gazebo, donated by Lowe’s, will soon be installed on the lawn.

“We’re hoping to have a dedication and ribbon cutting when it’s finished,” he said.