Fresh Start

It’s that magical time of year when new notebooks and folders line the aisles and there are 100 different writing implements to choose from – That’s right! Schools supplies are in stores!

I always loved this time of year growing up. By the end of summer, I was always ready to go back to school. See my friends. Return to my school routine.

I reveled in the trip to the store to get my school supplies for the year. All the notebooks, pens, folders, fresh Crayola markers, and cool new Trapper Keepers. I had a Trapper Keeper when I was in elementary school. It was an incredible invention for a school nerd like me. Made me feel like a cooler kid than I really was.

I say “school nerd” because even 16 years after I finished my master’s degree, I still take time to pour through the school supplies each year. I get excited when I see all the new things that have been created. The pretty gel pens, the grid-spaced composition notebooks, and the new organizational supplies for students (though none will ever be as awesome as the Trapper Keeper). I usually leave the store with at least a few new things for me to use.

As a teacher, I live by the semester just as students do. When I was a student, I saw the start of a new school year as an opportunity for a fresh start. New supplies, new clothes, and new opportunities for growth and learning. A chance to be a better me.

I still see the start of the academic year as a clean slate. A chance to do it all over again, and hopefully a little bit better than the previous year. This is a gift.

May we all be given the gift of a fresh start. May we all have the opportunity to do whatever we embark upon better than we did previously.