Opening Day

 

The first day of school is always a much anticipated day for students, parents, and faculty alike.  Returning to Buckley’s campus after summer break is a time to reconnect with friends and resume academic pursuits. 

In a “School News” (a Buckley publication of the time) headline for September 18th, 1958 the author writes, “This day marks the opening of Buckley for another school year. For the next nine months, the halls of Buckley will be filled with students and faculty. Everyone looks forward to the new year and wondering what the new school year will have in store. Will it be fun? Will it be all hard work? What do you think?” 

This  paragraph accurately summarizes everyone’s inquiries regarding the course of the school year before them. Do you recall the familiar swelling of your heart as you greeted your friends on the first day of school after what felt like an eternity apart? Or your sweaty palms and beating heart as you sat down in a new classroom with a new teacher for the first time that year, and tried  your best to make a good impression? The jitters wear off after you realize that the teacher is just as welcoming and kind as all those Buckley teachers you’ve had in previous years, and you settle into your chair, steadfast and sure of your decision that this year will be wonderful. A year filled with hard work, and undoubtedly full of unexpected challenges, but without a shadow of a doubt, wonderful, because you are surrounded by people who genuinely want you to succeed and a family that you can rely on. 

 

 

Alice Blum's “School”
1941 

School 

We go to Buckley Country Day

Week by week, day by day. 

There we learn to read and write. 

There we study with all our might. 

We also learn to spell and sing

In periods marked by bells that ring.”

Alice Blum 1941

 

Another year
1939

Another year has passed: a year full of lessons we have learned, and of lessons we should have learned but didn’t. Perhaps it might be well to list those lessons which we have learned, while we silently regret those we failed to master. Among the things we learned are: 

1.The joys and responsibilities of student government. 

2.Caesar’s Gallic wars. (In the little yellow book.)

3.The ability to lose gracefully

4.The difficulty of getting advertisers 

5.The satisfaction of being trustworthy 

6.The pleasure of a job well done 

7.The value of friends 

8.The importance of and meaning of sportsmanship 

9.The necessity for changes

10.The need for cooperation in all things 

These things we have accomplished during the past year- and while they may be only the beginning of the things we hope to do- we feel that at least, we have made a good beginning!