With heavy rain, school started on Monday, August 26 at Emerson Middle School in Niles for the school’s more than 860 students.
“There are no rain clouds dark enough to dampen the positive energy here today,” said Timothy Benka, Emerson Middle School assistant principal.
Emerson is one of two middle schools in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64. The other is Lincoln Middle School in Park Ridge, which also held its first day Aug. 26.
“Everyone’s so excited to have the kids back,” Benka said, opening the front doors officially to let students in.
Sixth, seventh and eighth-grade middle schoolers brought by bus scampered to a door at their alternate drop off point.
But the puddles?
“My shoes are soaking,” said Max Sudrzynski, 12, a seventh-grader of Niles.
About the school year, Sudrzynski said he was, “pretty excited.”
Ajdi Kryemadhi, 13, an eighth-grader from Park Ridge, carried bouquets of flowers to gift to homeroom teachers.
Kryemadhi hoped the new school year would bring the opportunity, “to make new friends,” she said.
Fatmir Kryemadhi, Ajdi’s father, waited with his daughter for the school doors to open.
Ajdi’s father hoped his daughter, “would be a good student and to get good grades,” he said.
Many parents carried umbrellas, shielding their students until both reached the front door overhang.
There, staff members were on hand to welcome arrivals.
“It’s been an amazing morning,” said Samantha Alaimo, Emerson Middle School’s new principal.
“The whole Emerson community is refreshed, energized and positive.
“It was so fun to welcome back our middle school students today,” said Alaimo, formerly a teacher and associate principal at Emerson.
“We’re looking forward to a great year full of learning, laughter and growth,” she added.
Lauren Herguth, 11, a sixth-grader of Park Ridge, said she was excited to start at Emerson Middle School, the home of the Eagles.
“An Emerson Eagle, you’re soaring,” Lauren said.
Monday was also the first day of school for students in first through eighth grades at seven of District 64’s schools.
Kindergarten was set to begin on Tuesday, Aug. 27. On the following Wednesday, preschool classes were set to launch at Jefferson School, which sits on the same campus as Emerson in Niles. Besides those two, the rest of the district’s schools are in Park Ridge.
