Oh. My. Gosh. Hail to the ‘Stangs! I was expecting a dreadful first two days of school, but that theory was put to shame.

I don’t know if some kids are still a bit nervous about middle school, but I know that I’m not a part of that crowd. I am so glad to be in middle school. Now Crestwood Elemenatry has an amazing education and it was so fun being there but Mattson is a different ball game in my eyes. When we walked through the big double doors, us new seventh graders were instantly greeted by Mr. Ulrich who is the metal shop and woodshop teacher, and Mr. Masters, our awesome security guard. They were holding the doors for us and high fiving us, reasurring us that it’s going to be fine.

One thing that was appreciated by many was that on the first day of middle school we didn’t need to go straight to a normal day. What consumed our morning was an all seventh grade assembly. Most of the eighth grade student body was not showing up until sometime after 11 a.m.. The eighth graders that were present were part of the Stang Crew. This particular group of students devoted many days of their summer and a lot of their time to helping the new seventh graders. The assembly was almost more like a pep rally. Mr. Lindh, the head Stang Crew leader, and Mrs. Burns, the goofy, young hearted teachers at Mattson hosted the assembly — what seemed to be a party!

Also our wonderful Principal Mrs. Unruh and Assistant Principal Mrs. Beliveau had kind words to ease the tension. We were encouraged to be loud and we were encouraged to sing when Mr. Lindh did. Besides talking about things to keep in mind, their were some fun activities. For example, some Stang Crew leaders chose a few kids each and multiple teachers came down to dance on the gym floor. Some even got into a dance-off. Teachers were doing the splits and a kid was spinning on his head. We kids in the stands were going nuts. My friends and I in the stands were saying, “I already love Mattson.”

Toward the end of the assembly, when Mrs. Burns pointed to the left side of the bleachers, they all screamed Mattson! And when she pointed to the right side, we all screamed Mustangs! We got louder and louder and soon it was a who can be louder match. It was so fun! First impressions mean a lot, and Mattson, you nailed it.

Next we all separated into groups with a few Stang Crew eighth graders and went to a classroom to talk and get acquainted with different people. After that, we were all summoned to lunch. It was complete chaos because we had both lunches together. Thankfully I brought lunch — I felt bad for my friends that were still in line when I finished. But when they got their food they were not let down. There are many new choices in middle school. You can get the main course, pizza, salad, or a freshly made sub! I’m going to be ordering more than I ever did before. Soon we all realized that when you were done, you could go outside and hang out. As we all know there isn’t a recess from middle school and up. That is kind of an understatement. When you go outside, we are pretty much free. We can’t go to our lockers and if you think you can sneak past the red lines on the ground to stuff something in your locker, you will be sniffed out by Mr. Masters. But, soon you will be able to get passes for a football, basketball, soccer ball, etc.

Or you can do what we did on the first few days. Stand around talking, if you can hear from all the kids screaming in excitment. Kids were chasing each other, some getting piggy-back rides, everybody was having fun, which was great for the first day of middle school. When the bell rang, it was time to go to each individual class to meet your teachers and learn the new schedule.  My first period was home economics with Mrs. Amy. I absolutely love her spunky, fun personality.

In each class, all we did was learn the rules of the class, learn about our teacher, and learn about what we will be doing in the class. We also talked about a new thing to the school called Stang Time where we talk about Mattson, which includes all the things coming up and our questions or concerns. Because of this addition it mixed up our schedule a bit. But I’m sure that after a few days we will have it down. Home and Family Studies is my elective but others have different electives such as art, orchestra, band, choir, metal or wood shop, and some kids will be able to run for a spot in the ASB — some may know it as student council. Next period for me is Health and Fitness which is taught by Mr. Sencenbaugh. I am excited for all the things we will be doing like soccer, volleyball, and Frisbee. Other than maybe some fitness gram testing I think that class will be really fun.

On the way to my locker, which is almost at the end of one side of the school, I noticed that we were in complete grid lock. Fun. As we herded into different classes like cattle, I noticed that the eighth graders were being very courteous to us sevies. It’s nice to look up to them — literally — and have them as such a good inspiration. Also I noticed there was that one poor kid that was going the wrong way on the wrong side of the hall, and that triggered a bunch of people to start bumping into each other. I wasn’t late, and I think that was just a few too many kids that got lost. My third period is social studies. As I mentioned earlier Mr. Lindh is awesome. He is so funny and by what I’ve learned he loves to work with kids. He also has a student teacher in the classroom that will be with us until next semester when he will hopefully have his teaching license. I love the subject social studies so I know I will enjoy third period. In fourth period I have language arts with Mrs. Tobiason. Once again I think I will really like this class and can’t wait to get into the curriculum. Next is algebra with Mrs. Franks. She is also the volleyball coach. She is super funny and I hope to do good in her class. Finally I have science in sixth period with Mrs. Strawn. I have been in her class twice and I can tell I will have fun. I am not even that big into science but Mrs. Srawn told us that if you have fun in science you will remember the facts!

I love every class, and all my teachers are awesome. Mattson was so not what I expected and I am so excited to meet other staff members and have fun this school year. I am now a mustang and this is going to be a fun ride. To be continued …

Annie Livengood of Covington is an aspiring journalist and seventh grader at Mattson Middle School.