Last night was Back-to-School Night at my younger son's school, Annandale High School AHS). He is a junior this year so now I only have one more BTS Night left. Kind of sad... Anyway, it was a fun night all in all. I started out by getting there on time and joined the PTSA and looked to see if there was anything else I needed to do. There was not, so I wandered the halls of the school to find one of the 12th English teachers there. She was in her room anxiously awaiting all the parents that would be coming in later. The cool thing she is MY old 11th grade English teacher... Now I did not go to my son's school - in fact his school was my old school's biggest rival. But my school (Thomas Jefferson High School, more affectionately known as TJ) kind of 'closed' when the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST) opened. TJHSST is a magnet school which requires students to apply and go through a rigorous entrance process including testing and what not. So a lot of the teachers and students of course moved a few miles down the road to AHS. My son does (and his older brother did) sports and I have never in my life had so much RED - the school's primary color - in the laundry! Nor did I ever imagine I would be cheering for the Annandale Atoms!
Anyway, back to my teacher. I visited with her for a while and it was so nice to see her. I let her know that I hoped she would be around for at least another year so my son could have her for English like I did. She was by far my most favorite teacher and I've kept up with her over the years...and it has been a lot of years! She had the biggest impact on my life during that time and I probably would not have made it through without her guidance.
After my visit it was off to the gym for the welcome by the Principal, this was after the performance of the Men's Choir. Apparently it is tradition for them to perform at BTS Night and I enjoyed this year's performance as much as last year's. Finally they released all the parents out into the halls to navigate their way to the various classes. We we allocated 10 minutes in each class with 5 minutes in between to find the next class. I have to say that I am quite thankful the provide maps to the parents (and they do for the students as well) as AHS is the most confusing building I have ever been in. I think it has at least one hospital beat...(I'm referring to INOVA Fairfax if you've ever wandered around there before - nutty).
First though...on my way to the first period I ran into my former Master's swim coach who teaches history there.
The most interesting part of the class meetings was my son's first period teacher (first period on odd days, of course as they are on block scheduling). His teacher is my former TJ classmate that I graduated with 27 years ago... how crazy is that? He did not know my son was MY son (we have different last names) but he knows now! Most of the rest of his teachers seemed fine. His marketing teacher, who he had last year as well, even gave out candy! The only teacher I did not meet was his Physics teacher - because there technically isn't one and they've had a sub in who was getting assistance from the other Physics teachers. However the Assistant Principal was in the classroom last night and acknowledged that they'd hired one who would hopefully start next week. *Fingers Crossed* Finally, at the end of the last class of the night a 2 minute video was broadcast for the parents which was a documentary about being at the school from a student's perspective. It was quite motivating and I am quite pround that my sons have both gone there!
One final note: I live in the same area I grew up in. There are many people in this area that I went to school with and have know (or known of) more or less for many, many years. It is great fun to run into someone from back then and realize that they too have a child at the high school. My kids get a kick out of it every time I find out about someone else.
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