One senior in particular, an individual who chose to be identified only by the moniker “Mugsy,” refused to let the gray skies get him down. “It’s ominous, but who cares? We’re having a good time! We’re getting buck wild today,” he added, before bidding me “Put that down—‘buck wild.’”
Satisfied with my dutiful scribbling, Mugsy shared with me some of his aspirations, as well as a few fears. “I’m looking forward to having a good time, I’m here with all my good friends; the best class to come out of Saugerties. I’m least looking forward to having to pay bills and hitting the real world after this. After graduation you start getting hit with the debt, you know?”
I knew.
Of all the portentous and ominous things looming over the horizon, AP classes seemed to top the list. Sydney Dennis said, “I’m least looking forward to all the stressful AP homework I’m going to get.” Josh Olsen seconded the sentiment. However, Ryan Bonelli was relatively unfazed. While he admittedly was not looking forward to his AP classes, he said, “It’s not really that bad, just one of those things.”
Bonelli had an easier transition than most. The football season began shortly before school started. “It got me ready,” he said. When he graduates, Bonelli plans to study media and film. Asked what some of his favorite movies were, he said, “I like most of them.”
Close seconds in the category of things dreaded by Saugerties High School seniors on the first day included homework, waking up early, and SATs. However, it is not all bad—there’s always Senior Prom to look forward to. That, and Mr. Vanderpool.
“He’s our physics teacher,” said Ashley Peterson. “He is the most amazing man on planet earth. He’s wonderful.”
Lisa Maher agreed. Asked what was so great about him, she said, “His wisdom. There’s only one word to describe that—wisdom.”
Compared to this mysterious and charismatic Mr. Vanderpool, talk of the senior prom seemed trite. Nevertheless, Macy Michaels was looking forward to it. “We’re going to dress up, and it’s going to be magical.”
The senior class has yet to settle on a prank. “We have a few, but we don’t know if they’re going to work,” said Brianna Plonski. “Like I wanted to slip and slide the hallways. I don’t think that will work.”
Tim Cornelison may have summed it up best in the brief moment I had to speak with him before a horde of tie-dyed seniors pulled him away for a quick class photo, which Mugsy roped me into taking on a pair of iPhones. “It’s going to be epic—it’s senior year.”
Then they lined up and drove into the sunrise.
Down the road at Cahill Elementary, things were much quieter just before first bell, around 9 a.m., as children, parents, and a surprising number of dogs lined up outside the school in anticipation of the first day.
Sixth-grader Angelina Sordero and her mother, Sue, walked to school a half-hour early. “I hate being late,” said Angelina. Despite the fact that she is about to begin her fifth and final year at Cahill, when asked how it felt to be at the top, she said, “I still feel at the bottom because I’m small.”
Angelina is excited about taking art again. For one of her art projects last year, she built a house out of gingerbread, carpet, and glue, which withstood three simulated earthquakes, before she took the liberty of smashing it to pieces with a hammer. With some luck and a bit more glue, maybe this year’s house will be able to survive bludgeoning as well.
While Angelina was winding up her time at elementary school, Adrienne Krisell’s daughter Ava Miller was about to begin hers, in kindergarten at the same elementary school her mother attended. Adrienne said that, although she wasn’t sure if any of the teachers her daughter would have were the same ones she had, a lot of people she went to high school with are now teachers at the school. “I actually got a message from a teacher—she teaches special ed.—who let me know she would check in on Ava,” she said.
Joshua Pereira was also about to start kindergarten, and just couldn’t wait to play tag. “I like playing tag, and moving around to tag someone,” he said. His parents, Christina and Adolfo, were happy Joshua was starting school, where he would “learn to be a big boy.”
I thought of the senior class. I thought of Mugsy.
