Giving students their ‘best year yet’

At the front entrance of Nikiski North Star Elementary on Wednesday, music was playing, bubble machines were filling the air with soapy spheres, and Nikiski Fire Service Area staff were directing traffic and greeting students on the first day of school.

Similar, though perhaps not as exuberant, scenes were playing out across the Kenai Peninsula as all of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s 42 schools welcomed students back into classrooms.

Jenna Fabian, the principal of Nikiski North Star, said she and the teachers and staff at her school all were working to welcome returning students, siblings of previous students, and wholly new students to their school and get every child off to start their “best year yet.”

The first day of school sets the tone, Fabian said. That’s why she was out on the sidewalk greeting every student by name. She said every person who works at the school plays a part in supporting positive outcomes for its students, and that the school celebrates its unique community.

Kindergartners at Nikiski North Star are taking a big step into their school years, Fabian said, and will learn to get into the routine and warm up to being at school over the coming days and weeks.

Similar transitions were being seen at Kenai Middle School and Nikiski Middle/High School. There, sixth grade students coming from elementary schools like Nikiski North Star were taking their first step into larger buildings where they have more freedom in class schedules and — for the first time — their own lockers.

“Your BFF does not need to know your combination,” Kenai Middle Principal Vaughn Dosko said to a large crowd of rowdy sixth graders on Wednesday morning.

Nervousness about moving up to middle school and an excitement about the future, Dosko said, is a good thing.

Michael Crain, the principal of Nikiski Middle/High, said he puts in work to make the transition as smooth as possible for incoming sixth graders — by visiting with them at the elementary school when they’re fifth graders and bringing them in at the end of that year for a “step-up day” where they’ll get their bearings at the school.

After greeting students in the morning, passing out schedules and offering directions, Crain said he would be calling the parents of all the new sixth graders to start building a connection with them. Fabian, too, said Wednesday that “relationships are what matter.”

At Nikiski, Crain said, the staff are always working to improve academic performance — the school had performed higher than state and district averages in last year’s AK Star test results — but also to connect students with sports and other programs.

“We want to make the school fun and inviting for all of our kids to be here,” he said.

Alongside the students, some staff were experiencing transitions of their own this week. Dosko, in speaking to the sixth graders, introduced new math, science and physical education teacher Braedon Pitsch, who came to Kenai Middle this year after teaching in Razdolna School last year. “Approximately 10 or 12 years ago, that guy with his shirt and tie on was sitting in the chair that you’re possibly sitting in now as a sixth grader at this school,” Dosko said.

Back at Nikiski North Star, Todd Nemyo was outside greeting incoming students alongside Fabian and the firefighters. He’s a special education teacher who moved over this year from Soldotna High School. Elementary schoolers require a different instruction, he said, as they’re learning to read, for example, where high school students are “perfecting their craft.”

In Nikiski North Star, Nemyo said, he sees “a lot of energy going towards educating our kids.”

Even students who aren’t moving up to a new school are still going to be getting a new experience this year. Julia Garrett, a Nikiski North Star third grader, said that she was excited to be back at her school and her friends to learn more about math. Third grade, she said, will demand “more skills” than second grade had. Third graders also have to run a full mile in gym class.

While excited youngsters, teary-eyed parents and eager teachers filled entryways and hallways on Wednesday morning, they disappeared into classrooms in moments after school bells and morning announcements rang out. Only minutes into the start of the day at both Nikiski schools, teachers like Angie Coelho and Michelle Burnett already had students at work on different icebreaking and orientating activities; while other teachers, like Lara Lindeman, Colby Way and Kaci Tauriainen were greeting students and telling them about the rules and expectations of their classrooms.

Fortunately for Way’s students, he said, “There’s a lot of freedom in fourth grade.”

For more information about the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District or any of its schools, visit kpbsd.org.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.