SV students return to classrooms
CRANBERRY TWP — Roughly 7,000 Seneca Valley students stepped off their school buses and into classrooms Wednesday, a return to school with the full consortium of their peers for the first time since 2019.
It was the first time all students had been present for the first day of school in two years — Seneca Valley School District began 2020-21 in a blended learning model — and for the teachers the excitement of students seeing all their peers was unparalleled.
Mike Manipole, a physical education teacher at Rowan Elementary School, said Tuesday that he was most looking forward to seeing that excitement. Even with masks, he said, last year brought similar energy and he expected no less from Wednesday's return, with twice as many students.
“The kids interact and they communicate in so many different ways,” Manipole said. “Obviously, voice and facial reactions are some of them, but they're drawn toward each other, and they have ways of greeting each other. ... One of the things is, kids take comfort in just being back. I think that will make them smile by itself.”
And the smiles were prevalent. From brothers walking into the building hand-in-hand to the stereotypical nervous energy of a student entering his first day of kindergarten, and not wanting to leave his mother's side, the excitement and anticipation of a full year of school with classmates abounded.
