Round Table Discussion: Back to School Edition

Back to School… Back to School to prove to Dad I’m not a fool! Its that time of the year again where lunch boxes are getting filled with bologna sandwiches and snack packs, Office Depots are hocking assorted folders, pens, and TI-83s, and children are feverishly combing through their Spark Notes. In honor of schools starting up again we decided to discuss what we loved/hated most about going back to school.

Bethany: Although it’s been years since I’ve stepped foot into a classroom as a student, my first thoughts when hearing the phrase “back to school” are: “Crap, who am I going to sit with at lunch?” and “Oh God, please don’t call my name.”

Cat: I always dreaded group projects with slackers and projects that meant nothing to me but was ultimately busy work to give the professor something to grade, other than that I loved getting back to my friends and being challenged with new ideas. Nerd alert?

Nate: Back to School as a teacher is completely bizarre. As a teacher you worry about the same things that students worry about, just only on a different level; students worry about whether or not they will like their teachers, while I worry about whether or not I will like my students. This last weekend I went both school supplies shopping and Back-to-School clothes shopping (my wife reminded me to grab a box of crayons). In a way, throughout my life (including now) Back to School was always a bittersweet moment. Sure, I hate seeing summer go and having to wake up at ungodly hours, but I am also glad to be DOING SOMETHING. A summer with a boatload of friends with non-education related jobs is kind of boring after awhile: “Want to go see a movie?” “It’s Tuesday.” “So?” “It’s 1pm.”

Vic: I kinda looked forward to going back to school until the homework & bs started. New clothes, new friends, new teachers. Kind of exciting…

Stu: http://gawker.com/5936406/top-20-party-schools-top-20-sober-schools-all-sound-equally-horrible

Lindsay: I love love LOVE summer, but I was usually ready to head back to school. My friends and I were super-nerds in high school, and even in college I looked forward to new classes. It was always great seeing people you hadn’t seen all summer, and besides, nothing can beat the cool weather, football games, cross country meets, Homecoming, Halloween…the list of fun fall festivities goes on and on.

CVM: After 12 years of grade school, four years of college and two of grad school- this is the first fall I’m NOT going back to school. This is the first year that back to school ads haven’t given me slight anxiety. This is the first year I don’t have to worry about having people I know in my classes. This is the first year I just don’t care about back to school. I miss buying pens though. I really like pens.

Kristin: I always enjoyed school. Im a pretty social person (alot more in college) so it was easy to find someone to hang out with but yes there was always social anxiety. college was different because by then I realized that everyone else was feeling the same exact way. its all about confidence and acting like you know exactly what you’re doing. confidence goes a LONG way.

Tristan: What was the weirdest/ or favorite school lunch yall ever had?

Scott: Our school served “Super Chicken,” which was neither “super” or “chicken.” It was like a Simpsons episode where they just combined various meats and called it chicken. There was also a pizza burger, which was just an excuse to mask the terrible burger meat by covering it in pizza sauce. Yay, Catholic school.

Cat: High school: best chicken nuggets ever, with honey; mint milkshake; biggest, most delicious, cinnamon rolls ever; and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in a pick yourself basket where you would steal an extra one by hiding it with a napkin. <3

Tristan: We used to rock the softserve machine hard in college… contest to see who could make the biggest cone… only rules… you had to swirl (no fucking pushers), and you had to eat the entire thing for it to count. How am I not 1000 lbs?!

Drew: In fifth grade, I used to bet my friends I could eat 4 Little Debbie snack cakes in 20 seconds. I got really good at it. Now for some reason though, the sight of Little Debbie snack cakes kind of makes me queasy.

Tristan: Anyone else’s schools used to serve rectangle pizzas?

LVZ: My school served rectangular pizza and on the same day as the pizza, they would ALWAYS serve these breaded cheese sticks with pizza dipping sauce. One day I was talking to Fran (the best lunchlady ever) about this predicament. I explained to her that essentially, we only had one thing for lunch, but twice.That was the last day the rectangle pizza was served with the cheesy pizza breadsticks.

Bethany: My school had a salad and baked potato bar. I’m pretty sure I had a baked potato every single day of my Senior year. I do remember rectangle pizzas, though!!!

Nate: If you went to school in the Cherry Creek School District, it was all about chalupas.

Vic: I alwaays looked forward to Nacho Day in high school. I knew the next day would suck(aka be on the toilet at least once an hour), but in my teenage mind it was totally worth it.

Karen: Here’s what I think of when it’s time to go back to school:

Buying school supplies – this is still one of my favorite things to do (except now I guess it’s office supplies). New boxes of markers are like crack to me. Also.. remember art boxes? I had a turquoise one that was shaped like a stegosaurus. I may or may not still have it. NBD.
Covering my textbooks – I feel like cutting up a brown Kroger bag to make a textbook cover was a rite of passage. It meant you were old enough to actually have textbooks, and that basically you were a big freaking deal.
GEL PENS! Enough said.
School lunches – rectangle pizzas, french toast sticks, “chicken” nuggets, Zebra Cakes, and Oatmeal Cream Pies. These were my basic food groups.
Market Day – I’m not sure if your schools did Market Day, but it basically made my life. The mac & cheese was bonkers. A coworker sells it for her child’s school, so I bought some things last year. I don’t know if my tastes have changed, or if Market Day has gotten worse, but it was not nearly as delicious as I remember. Growing up is hard.

Chase: For me, there’s two things that immediately come to mind. First is dreading the test or essay over the required summer reading that I never did. I would just hope that my skimming of Sparknotes summaries and my bullshitting skills would be enough to allow me pass. Second was the excitement to see the cute girls who lived across town that I didn’t get to see all summer. They’d always come back with tanned skin and sun-kissed hair looking better than ever.

Lindsay: I refused to eat school lunches, and if you had gone to my high school, you would know why. Instead, I ate peanut butter sandwiches pretty much every single day. I’m lame, I know.

Mike R: Crunchy or creamy? This is crucial information.

Bethany: When I was little, all I would eat was peanut butter (crunchy of course!) My mom made a rule that I was only allowed to eat it once, every other day. And since I was homeschooled until 6th grade, she was the lunchlady…so it counts. 🙂

Lindsay: I’m a creamy kind of gal, but I’ll eat crunchy too.

Tristan: Annnnd I think we’re done here to all the teachers, parents, grad students, students… have a great first week back!