All was quiet on the middle school front Tuesday.
It was the first day of the academic year, and Dodge City's youngest teenagers behaved beautifully. Lines were orderly, laughter was muffled, kids were alert, uniforms were neat and teachers were smiling.
Even lunch was eaten in relative quiet.
Shortly after noon, the cafeteria was packed with the kind of condensed energy that you can only find in a middle school. While everyone ate pizza and gulped down cartons of milk, a few eighth graders eyed the new seventh graders with a mixture of sophistication and nostalgia. Two old friends, Dillon Burkhard and Armando Zavala, both 13, sat together and remembered being 12.
"They're younger and smaller than I remember," said Armando, looking back at last fall as if he were peering through the mists of time. "I don't exactly feel a lot older. But I do feel somewhat older. I feel different, I guess because I am different."
Across the room, a table of eighth-grade girls, all 13, leaned in on their elbows, maintaining a giggling, seamless web of communication. They thought about whether or not they felt much older than they did last year.
"Old? Oh I'm old, all right. I was born old!" proclaimed Yasmin Herrera.
Her friends giggled appreciatively before Marilu Calleros got serious.
"Well, I think we all feel different," she said. "I was just lost when I came here in seventh grade because it seemed like everybody but me knew where they were going. It's really different for us now."
A year in the life
Marilu was right. People change so much during middle school that a year is actually a long time.
"These are some of the most dramatic and developmentally significant years in a child's life," said school librarian Sarah Schaeffer, as she sat behind her desk, surrounded by books, computers, video cameras and children’s art. Big paper mache masks, created by the students to celebrate Mardi Gras last year, lined the shelves.
Schaeffer has been teaching for 40 years, and she's got all the confidence and humor of a true teaching veteran. She's also passionate about middle school kids.
"Our teachers have a calling. We choose to be here," said Schaeffer. "In fact, we wouldn't have it any other way."
Forty years in the eighth grade
Schaeffer spent most of her career as an art teacher, and constantly bumps into scores of middle-aged people who remember her well.
"It's like, all my students grow up, and I stay in the eighth grade," she said. "Basically, I've been in the eighth grade for 40 years."
Schaeffer let loose a guffaw that could probably be heard down the hall in the cafeteria.
"I love these kids and I love this work. I love the feeling of being able to be very professional, and then sometimes just get goofy," she said. "Teachers of this age group should never take ourselves too seriously — take the job seriously, yes. But not ourselves."
Art, books, computers, reading, video skills — all these represent the world Schaeffer wants her students to lay claim to. But essentially, she emerges as their champion.
"They're going through a lot of physical and emotional changes, and this can be a tough time for them," said Schaeffer. "We understand that — we appreciate the fact that they're in flux, and we want to do everything we can for them."
When asked to describe the best part of her work with her students and staff, Schaeffer thought for a moment before summing it up in one sentence.
"We're all lucky to have one another," she said.
Meanwhile, back in the cafeteria
Back in the cafeteria, this particular lunch shift was almost over, and the eighth graders were waxing philosophic..
"I was pretty scared when I first got here as a seventh grader," said Burkhard. "I didn't know where anything was, and I was afraid I was always going to be getting lost and be late to where I was supposed to be next."
That was then. Now, Dillon knows DCMS like the back of his hand and he's even got some advice to dispense to the new seventh graders.
"You'd better nice to your teachers." he said.
Dillon and Armando were joined by their buddy, Andrew Balderaz, also 13. All three boys are athletes — Armando and Dillon are on the DCMS football, basketball and soccer teams, and Andrew, a boxer, is considering going out for wrestling.
"I'll always have time for schoolwork, no matter how much time I spend on sports, because my mom makes sure I study," said Dillon. "My idea of a perfect eighth grade day is when you make it to all your classes, then you go home and get to just sleep because you have no homework."
Andrew and Armando looked at Dillon as if he was already asleep and having a big dream.
Dillon just grinned and took a huge bite of pizza.
Reach Claire O'Brien at (620) 408-9931 or e-mail her at claire.obrien@dodgeglobe.com.
