Chickering students join the ‘last day of school’ chorus

Dover - Summer vacation time is here for the students of Dover-Sherborn’s public schools. The staff and teachers of the Dover-Sherborn High School, Dover-Sherborn Middle School, Pine Hill School in Sherborn and the Chickering Elementary School in Dover all said goodbye to their students last Thursday.

There was an excitement building outside the Chickering Elementary School in the moments before the bell rang for the last time on Thursday. Fifth-grade parents gathered by the main entrance, ecstatic to see their children exit. And then the doors opened.

Students flooded out the door toward the buses with shouts of “summer” and “freedom,” while parents and teachers stood by cheering and clapping. As the buses left the school campus, hundreds of hands poked out of the bus windows waving at teachers who were saying goodbye to their students for the last time this year.

Nancy Simms is a parent of a graduating fifth-grader and said that the transition is both joyful and sad.

“Its bittersweet,” she said. “It sad to leave Chickering, but it’s happy because she is so ready for sixth grade.”

The fifth-grade students will now be heading to Dover-Sherborn Middle School, where they will meet a whole new town of people. Dr. Theresa Nugent, the principal of Chickering, said that the school will miss the 106 students who graduated this year.

“They have set the bar so high for fifth-grade classes to come,” she said. “They showed what it means to be a Chickering student.”

Ken Wadness, who has been a teacher at Chickering for 20 years, said that this class had become like a family for him. He was a fourth-grade teacher the year before, so he had been with some of the students for two years.

“It’s sort of surreal that they’re leaving,” he said. “I’m going to miss them all.”

His class, 22 students strong, all wore graduation T-shirts, which were voted on by all students and teachers in the fifth grade. As they watched a slideshow of the past year, and cleaned their desks down with shaving cream, they reminisced on the transition they were about to begin. Many students, such as Melanie Hennessey were unsure about how to feel about the transition.

“I’m excited but kind of nervous for middle school,” she said.

Others such as Molly Murphy were more certain that they were excited for the next step.

“I’m looking forward to the freedom at the middle school,” she said. “Instead of walking in a straight line in the hallway, we’ll just get to walk.”

Evan Koslof

jessica Bolandrina
6/29/11

Originally Posted: http://www.wickedlocal.com/dover/news/education/x2108624571/Chickering-students-join-the-last-day-of-school-chorus#axzz1QhRQ6XTw