Gesu Catholic School
250 students, accompanying family members, and a small but dedicated GESU staff mingled about in the early morning sunshine of August 30th, 2021. The first day of school at GESU was underway! A noticeable buzz radiated from the group as middle schoolers joked and jostled amongst each other, elementary students stuck out conditioned hands in greeting, and fresh PreK and Kindergarteners clamped onto familiar pant seams. At 7:55AM, the diverse mass of learners and their stewards tumbled into the old building, and into the new school year.
As in-line and stray students found their way to their classrooms, a sense of order began to come over the natural chaos that entered through GESU’s doors. A recentering peace fell over the school with the morning prayer, which was swiftly followed by classroom rules and expectations in Mr. James’s upstairs 8th grade class. Walking down the stairs, kindergarteners could be heard eagerly reciting the sign of the cross following the guiding voice of Ms. Schick. Across the school and in Ms. Acri's third grade classroom, students could be seen nestled into books during “free read”.
Noon marked the end of the first day back, and though it was only a half-day, it was a full day in it’s own right. As the last of the students bounced out of GESU’s door, the entire school staff breathed a collective sigh of relief. All of the anticipation leading up to this day, following the difficulty and sorrow of learning under the shadow of a pandemic, was released in the light that streamed through GESU’s windows, and the smiles behind it’s masked occupants. The light of the Lord, of students and teachers, is yet again shining through GESU’s walls, bringing with it a new and yet never lost joy.
