Walking into school for their first “normal” day back after the chaos of the past year and a half, Terryville High School students did not expect the plans that awaited them. Instead of the usual bouncing from classroom to classroom and going over syllabi and rules, students were first instructed to make their way out to the track to the sound of motivating music where a pep rally of sorts was held. The ready to learn, ready to thrive initiative was officially announced, orange sunglasses were handed out, and games such as Simon Says were played, bringing together both the new and old students who had never all been together in the school until that day and starting the morning off on a positive note. The news was even there to film this unique start to the school year. Next was a series of pep talks from administration, activities in the gym, scavenger hunts, and class meetings. Although, the first day of school isn’t complete without meeting your teachers and seeing your classes, so a shortened bell schedule was implemented at the end of the day, but after all the fun of the morning, it barely felt like a real school day (in a good way). The day ended on a high note with a special performance by Staff Infection.

The mastermind behind the whole ready to learn, ready to thrive initiative is digital media teacher, Mr. Maslak. He said that after such an exhausting year and a half of virtual and hybrid learning, he was excited to come back to “normal” school, and thought that everybody needed to take a break and separate online hybrid school from normal school. And what better way is there to do so than to throw a party and have fun?

“It was great to have the news there and get coverage out,” remarked Maslak, continuing that “it was great to have Terryville featured in a positive light.” He said that teachers from other districts were contacting him after seeing the news, telling him that they loved the idea. And when contacting parents for permission to have their students on the news, the parents were really enthusiastic. All in all, “we were proud of our students for being positive, excited, and getting involved!”

In creating ready to learn ready to thrive, Mr. Maslak hoped that it would get students motivated, even surprised, to “come back to school and recognize how much their teachers care about them and that we like teaching them.” According to Mrs. Hurd, a math teacher who also helped to plan the event, these goals were fairly well accomplished. One goal, specifically the “thrive” part of the ready to learn ready to thrive campaign, was to promote enrollment in extracurriculars after many were put on pause, moved to virtual meetings, and losing membership due to the pandemic. They wanted to feel the positive energy of the return to school, even after school hours, energizing both the school and the community. Mrs. Hurd proudly said that, “some clubs and sports teams can definitely say that their numbers went up.” Mrs. Erickson, a spanish teacher and another organizer of the event, mentioned that this year was the first year that that Pep Club had a large number of freshman joining, as usually it takes them a while to get acclimated to the school and its extracurricular offerings, but due to ready to learn ready to thrive, they were more easily able to join clubs.

While there is nothing set in stone yet, Mrs. Erickson said that there are plans for next year regarding ready to learn, ready to thrive. After the first day, the organizers of the event met and discussed what went well, and what they would like to change, so that hopefully next year will be even better. Currently they would like to find even more teachers to get involved in the planning. Even if there isn’t another big event like this year, Mr. Maslak said that regardless of being the first year after Covid, he would like the energy of the initiative to stay, because, “it’s what we want from our students at THS.” As Mrs. Hurd said, “learning is what everyone’s doing, and thriving is the extras,” and I’m sure for everyone, the extras are what make life that much more fun!