At Summer's End

The signs are everywhere. 

Kids being dragged to the store for new sneakers, backpacks and lunch boxes. Teachers like me are finding their way kicking and screaming to their classrooms, to put away new supplies, dress up the bulletin boards, organize class lists and arrange classroom furniture. 

But the start of school is never so evident as it is in a college town. 

I see it every year as the students start to move in. They gather in front of the dorms with their parents, carrying boxes and milk crates, computers and printers. The streets are suddenly busier and the sidewalks are full of white ear phone wearing, backpack carrying kids heading to class.

This year I'm watching it all with a new perspective because next fall I'll be the one sending one off to college. 

We took two college tours with him this week. I love the feeling of walking around a college campus. The ivy covered brown stones oozed intelligence, the marble staircases gleamed with promise as we climb them to view a lecture hall.  Boston University is a "sexy" school, right in the middle of a bustling city with Fenway Park right around the corner. I know, I know not a reason to choose a school but...

We all followed our tour guide and listened intently to everything she had to say. Actually, not all listened intently. One miserable father who coincidentally was wearing a yankee cap on his head had nothing good to say about anything she showed us. I really think he was just unhappy to be standing in the shadows of THE PAHK.

Our tour ended and as we stood waiting for the train to our next tour destination, the kid looked at me and said,  "I don't think this school is conducive to my learning, it's just too busy." 

Good to know!

We arrived at our next destination. Another big Boston school, but this one felt different. I could actually picture him walking around this campus, going from class to class, living in that dorm room, eating in that dining hall and studying in that library. The more our guide showed us, the bigger the kid's smile got and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was.

I knew for sure when he jumped in the front of the line to rub the nose on the bronze Huskie for luck! "Please let me get in to this school", I heard him say.

I don't know where he'll end up, there are still more tours to take and more mascot noses to rub, but he'll find the right fit because he's a smart boy with a good head on his shoulders. 

So I'll watch him navigate through his senior year, I'll help him with the forms and the applications and I'll edit the essays and when it comes to carry the milk crates I'll do that too and I may even rub a mascot nose or two along the way.

C is for College

Not only do I live in a tourist town, which by the way is particularly "interesting" this time of year, I also live in a college town. This has it's advantages and also it's disadvantages.

I love the whole collegiate atmosphere, watching students of all ages walking through campus and on the surrounding sidewalks and streets. It's convenient for my husband who is taking classes there, we can catch NCAA sporting events on a regular basis, we can skate at the rink and can swim in the pool.

The school where I teach kindergarten is located on campus, I eat lunch purchased in the college's food court, I host student teachers in my classroom and I've been a guest speaker in their classes. Not only do I work on campus, I practically live on campus too.

In the winter when the leaves have fallen I can see the dorms located behind my house. Despite their close proximity we rarely hear any noise and if we do it's usually in early September when the students are just coming back or in May when they are getting ready to leave after a hard year at work. It doesn't really bother me, and in fact I sometimes get little pangs of envy! For the most part they are pretty well behaved but occasionally there is an exception. Thursday night was the exception. 

There was a function of some kind in one of the buildings behind my house. Police bull horns were barking out orders and I could hear crowd noises that were getting progressively louder as people were being moved up the street and closer to my house. I could hear sirens and then three fire trucks pulled into the parking lot. I could hear a distant fire alarm and just assumed someone had burned the microwave popcorn again.

Suddenly the voices changed. They were angry now and when my husband and I looked out the window there was a good 30 people in each others faces in the middle of the street. I didn't see any punches thrown, but things were escalating in the wrong direction and it was easy to see that things were going to get out of hand very quickly. Hubby picked up the phone and dialed 911 and was told officers were already on the way. 

My husband, who sometimes sees himself as the protector of the neighborhood, stood out on the front porch all official like, ready to defend his family and worldly possessions. He scared the crap out of me. This was not your typical college crowd. It was loud, and angry and it was easy to see that they weren't going to tolerate much from anyone. 

I pleaded with him to stay inside and let the police who were "already on the way", handle it. I didn't need to be a widowed mother of three!

Thankfully as soon as the policed showed up the crowd scattered both on foot and in cars.

This is the second time something like this has happened. Last year it resulted in a stabbing.

Wouldn't anyone with any kind of intelligence see that two consecutive years with problems at this event is enough to stop holding said event? 

Rarely am I scared by these things, but this was scary and it's not even Halloween yet!