The Eve of the First Day of School

As I mentally prepare myself for the start of school tomorrow I cannot help but compare my jitters to my first summer at camp.  I have spent the last week and a half learning the ropes here at Gunnery from CPR training to department meetings to learning too many names to count, needless to say things have been crazy.  To add to it all, a tropical storm soaked us through on my fifth night here unveiling an awesome leak in my kitchen but it is adventures such as this that will shape my experiences here.  I have met a number of really great people here so far and cannot wait to spend the next year working with each and everyone of them.

My first summer of camp, I had just graduated from high school, and was the youngest member of the CEW staff, now in my first year of teaching, at the Gunnery, I have just graduated from college, and am again the youngest faculty member.  It is not this likeness to that first summer that has me reflecting but the feelings I had just after lunch on my first day of camp.  It was at this point in the day that I realized for the first time that things were going to change in a big way.  I had grown accustomed to life with just the camp staff, as I have here at the Gunnery, and in a way dreaded the arrival of the campers because I had no idea of what to expect.

Here I am, 5 years later, getting ready to welcome 46 teenage girls into my dorm, I have grown up a great deal in these 5 years, and now instead of facing tomorrow with dread, I am excited for the arrival of my students.  To say that I am not nervous would be a complete lie, there are still so many aspects of boarding school life that I am going to have to figure out, but I will face tomorrow with growing optimism ready to take that giant leap into my future.

For those of you reading this blog, I have decided to blog my first year of teaching, the highs, the lows, and everything in between.  For my camp co-workers (Amanda Civitello!) I will be blogging some photos of my teaching outfits to prove that I can dress like a "real" person.

I hope you all enjoy this adventure with me!