Welcoming Students During Back to School Week

Plenty of hugs were shared on all local school campuses as students greeted each other on the first day of school.

By Mary O’KEEFE

Students in the Glendale Unified School District headed back to school on Monday. At elementary schools across Crescenta Valley, kindergartners all had one thing in common: excited, nervous and sometimes tearful parents.

“At our kindergarten tea, I asked who was having a harder time [with the first days of school] – the parents or the kids,” said Dr. Adriana Pestonji, principal for Valley View Elementary. “It was the parents.”

Of course, there were a few kids that held onto their mom and dad’s hand a little longer than usual as they walked onto campus.

Monte Vista Elementary had an unexpected early visitor on Wednesday morning. As a custodian entered the campus, he reportedly saw a mountain lion jump from over a fence onto the parking lot.

“At first he thought it was a bobcat, but then he saw the tail and knew it was a mountain lion,” said a Monte Vista representative.

The sheriffs responded but the mountain lion was gone by the time they arrived.

Mountain lions aside, kids were more concerned about seeing their teachers and friends the first few days of school.

Valley View second grader Ayden Hicks found that second grade was a little more structured than first grade but he was ready for the challenge.

“I like [to study] about animals and science,” he said.

When asked what his favorite part of kindergarten was, Valley View Lucas Rittenhouse answered, “Recess time.”

Over at Mountain Avenue Elementary, a group of fifth graders had a good start to their year of academia.

“We had to tell a lie [and truths] about ourselves and the class had to guess which was the lie, “ said Noah Maddox.

“We did a people hunt worksheet. We walked around the classroom to find people that matched what was [on the page],” added Julian Finley.

“We spent the day talking about the rules,” said Willow Rusciolelli.

At Rosemont, eighth graders prepared to start their last year at the middle school before heading to high school and seventh graders got used to going from classroom to classroom.

At the high schools, Clark Magnet operated in its traditional organized way as teachers and administrators welcomed students back as the parade of busses arrived to drop students off.

At Crescenta Valley High School, it was high fives from ASB [Associated Student Body] members as the students walked into the front entrance.

The one constant at all schools was the increase in automobile and pedestrian traffic. As in the past, law enforcement reminds drivers to take their time, put their cellphones and iPods away while driving and proceed with caution.

BTS photos by Leonard COUTIN, Dan HOLM, Jason KUROSU, Mary O’KEEFE, Charly SHELTON, Molly SHELTON