By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
Trexler Cloninger’s 6 a.m. wake-up call this morning will likely be the worst part of his day.
“I was freezing cold and tired,” he said. “I got zero sleep last night, my stomach was eating me inside out.”
The sixth-grader was a ball of nerves awaiting his first day at Southeast Middle School.
“It’s a new school so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “And I just don’t like when summer ends.”

 Cloninger wasn’t the only sixth-grader anxious about today.
Classmate Briana Saelinger said her mind was racing as she stepped into middle school for the first time.
“Friends, school work, how I’m going to get to every single class,” she said. “I’m not really worried about it, I’m just curious.”

Share pictures of your first day back to school in the Post’s Day in the Life gallery.
Brodey Hogan said he’s both nervous and excited about becoming a sixth-grader.
“I’m nervous because it’s a new school and all the seventh- and eighth-graders are here,” he said. “But I’m also excited because it’s a new school.”
Classmate Olivia Gregory shared that sentiment.
“It’s cool being in middle school, but I don’t know many people from elementary school so that part is scary,” she said.
Gregory said she dreads the idea of waking up early for the rest of the year.
“It was easy today because I was pumped,” she said. “This morning I was thinking ‘Oh no, I’m going to have to do this all year.’ ”
Sherry Lyerly-Tarner, a sixth-grade English teacher at Southeast, said she’s always nervous about the first day, even after years on the job.
“I’m also excited,” she said. “I always look forward to working with the kids and getting to know them. It’s kind of a neat thing to get a fresh start every year.”
More than 25,000 area public school students are returning to class today.
Destiny Miller said she’s ready to start fourth grade at Knollwood Elementary.
“I want make new friends, meet my teacher and learn,” she said while waiting for her bus on Miller Chapel Road.
But Destiny’s classmate, fifth-grader Najimy Torrence, had the opposite feeling.
“I don’t want to go,” she said. “I’m not ready for summer to be over.”
Jamiya Alexander, an 11th-grader at West Rowan High, said she’ll have to wake up at 5 a.m. every day to catch the bus.
“I’m not happy about it,” she said. “We should at least be able to start school after Labor Day.”
Read a complete story about the first day of class in Tuesday’s Post.