By Joanie Morris
For the Salisbury Post
LANDIS — Alice Cooper rocked about it in 1972.
The crew of “Dazed and Confused” celebrated it in 1993.
And students and teachers at Landis Elementary School were only a few of the many across Rowan County who rejoiced about the end of school in 2011.
Beverly Roberts finished out her first full year as principal at Landis Elementary on Friday and compared the beginning of the year and the end.
“The first of the year, they’re excited because they haven’t seen a lot of their friends,” Roberts said. They are ready for the school year, raring to get started and anticipation is running high with both the students and teachers, as they all get ready to learn something new.
“The end’s different because they are looking forward to what they are going to do during the summer,” Roberts added. “They see the summer.”
Chase Lewis, a second-going-on-third-grader, said his family will go on vacation to Myrtle Beach sometime during the summer. Other than that, he said they’ll “go swimming” and he’s actually going to miss doing homework.
“I wanted two more days (of school),” said Lewis. “I want to be with my friends.”
Selena Butron, also a second-going-on-third-grader, said that she’ll miss the homework too. Other than hanging with her family a lot during the summer, at some point, “I’ll go to the beach.”
Teachers and students celebrated the last day of school by having pizza and ice cream parties. In Cammie Reece’s third- grade class, the students made a video, highlighting their favorite part of the year. Many of the students wrote that adopting a whale was a favorite part of the year, while others just liked being in Reece’s class or specific days, like fairy tale or field days.
Nolan Eudy said he enjoyed Reece’s class and will miss it. His family will go to the beach and Eudy knows that he’ll be in a few baseball games during the summer. This boy of summer plays second base and right field. He’s excited to sleep in during the summer.
Kim Nance, the school’s art teacher, made a bright yellow sign, and wrote “We’ll Miss You!” with black paint. The teachers held it up, while others yelled “Whoo-hoo!” and danced around while students loaded onto the bus for the last time this year. Others blew bubbles, and fifth-graders got claps and high-fives.
At the end, as buses drove out of the lot, students waved out the windows as the bus drivers honked their horns. Amy Vedeikis, a third-grade teacher at the school, wiped away stray tears as she watched the kids leave.
“They’re my babies,” said Vedeikis. “I’ve been crying all day.”
She admitted that she cries every year when the students leave for the last time, a result of the time she spends with them.
“You’re with them all day, every day,” said Vedeikis, wiping a few more stray tears. “You watch them grow.”
Joanie Morris is a freelance writer for the Salisbury Post. She can be reached at 704-797-4248 or news@salisburypost.com.