Educators from across the district arrived at Harry S. Truman to pompoms as the high school’s cheerleaders welcomed them for a back-to-school kickoff Thursday morning.
“Opening Day”, an annual event held ahead of the first day of classes in Bristol Township, celebrates the work of teachers and administrators in the district and motivates them for the upcoming school year.
“We would like to make sure that teachers feel welcome and appreciated on the first day back,” said Jessica Festa, the district’s federal programs facilitator. “As a part of our opening day ceremonies we like to do an event where we recognize all of the hard work they do throughout the year.”
A morale booster
Festa is also a member of Bristol Township’s Climate and Culture Committee, a five-year-old initiative created to foster community in the district.
For the opening day festivities, the committee worked with local businesses to collect donations to use as prizes for the event. This year, winners walked away with gift cards to Marinucci’s Deli, E-House and Phinny Magee’s Irish Pub.
In addition to cheerleaders, students from Truman’s inaugural summer drama camp performed two numbers from their show: Shrek the Musical Kids.
About 20 members of the production were able to make it, according to drama director Tracey Gatte.
“They gave up a day of their summer vacation to be here at 7:30, just to be able to perform for their former teachers,” Gatte said. “I think that says a lot.”
Jennifer O’Brien teaches at Keystone Elementary School and is one of those educators whose students have come to see at Opening Day in previous years.
“It’s so nice to see your ex-students,” O’Brien said. “I had some of them in second grade and they came up and hugged me. We could reconnect and it’s really sweet.”
Life lessons
The morning was not entirely performances and prizes. In a room full of teachers, there was bound to be some learning involved.
This year’s guest speaker was Nikole Hollins-Simms, an award-winning school psychologist, author and former special assistant to the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education. In her address, Hollins-Simms focused on the need for belonging in schools, built up from three key pillars: access, opportunity and affirmation.
“The speakers they have that come to talk to us are very inspiring,” said Marina David, a third-grade special education teacher in the district.
Two years ago, when a speaker came to Opening Day they actually changed the direction of David’s career as an educator.
“I was teaching general education, and Ben came,” David said. “He was an autism advocate and his story inspired me so much that I ended up changing to teach autistic students.”
Celebrating the upcoming school year
Michael Nitti, superintendent of the district, said that when he first started teaching, his superintendent told him that he should make the first day of school special for his students — put on his best suit, shine his shoes.
To Nitti, the start of a new academic year is a “right of passage.”
“If we want students to feel that their school is their school, we should give them these kinds of experiences and make them feel welcomed, valued and connected to it,” Nitti said.
The Bristol Township students in attendance today got a headstart on the upcoming school year, ahead of the first day of classes on Sept. 8.
“I love that they invite the cheerleaders back and we get celebrated,” O’Brien said. “They’re welcoming us into the auditorium and they’re just so full of life, and they’re just as happy to be here as we are.”
