As you know school is in session and everything is different. This is the first time some of us will be seeing each others faces and some of us are excited, some of us terrified. There will be new faces here as well.

Everyone is trying to come into the normal that was so abnormal for so long. We’ve had two years of being in and out of the building. Many people being sick because of COVID causing many people to quarantine, and many afraid because of the loss of loved ones.

Now, as COVID seems to be away from peoples mind we seem as a school to be coming back. This is also important as well because we all are bringing new things to the table. As a magnet school we come from many places: South Windsor, Bloomfield, Glastonbury; over 40 cities and towns across the state ergo, many points of view to share and relate to.

This is what science teacher, Daniel Duesing thought when he came here. Mr. Duesing said that he saw, “a variety of students in terms of different abilities… and backgrounds that makes for more interesting learning…”

Freshman: the newcomers who by the way have not named their class, yet are taking in so much such as new classes, teachers, friends, workloads, and expectations.

Mojeb Rahman-Zameeri ‘26 said “the work is more than expected” and he added that its challenging in a good way, enabling us “to study more”.

While school is good for making connections with others it’s still school. Some might only come for that famous test that you see twice a year.

I asked Principal Sean Tomany this and he says that he wants the students that he is in charge of for the eight hours of the school day to be good humans, to be “respectful and care for others. [He would want for us] to reach your full potential its very important to me… that you want to come to school.”

And this is good knowing that Mamba class’s Ahmad Memon ‘24 expected misery.

“I heard a lot … about junior year from school friends and seniors.”

While some were tired on day one like Mr. Rivera, or worried like Memon, or expect and expecting an education like Rahman-Zameeri. We were all expecting something bigger than we thought it would be. We thought of it like Pandora’s box of fear, forgetfulness, shame, and loneliness.

Even if there is there is always as what Mr. Tomany says he got from his first day “hope” so as the beginning starts to wane and monotony kicks in let us all try to keep our eyes open and fresh to new possibilities. And yes, an education is the first thing that one would need to get as Rahman-Zameeri said, “before any grade I want to get an education… many people get a degree but fail to get an education.”

Always remember to hope that this school year will be better than last year wherever you’ve been. Have hope that this year will be better, even though it’s been a few weeks since August 29th. I wish all of you a good school year.