When I think of September, the first thing that comes to mind is the start of the school year.
In my childhood, every September was associated with moving up a new rung on the ladder of my schooling. We had passed our school grades, and that opened up a whole world of expectations.
From mid-August onwards, I would start wondering what my new teacher would be like, what my new classmates would be like, which ones would stay and which ones would change schools. But the most important question of all was whether the new grade I would be moving up to would be too difficult for me.
I started each new school year with many doubts about my ability to perform well in my studies. It wasn't that I was a bad student. On the contrary, all my elementary school grades were excellent, but perhaps that's why I doubted whether I could continue to maintain the level my mother was accustomed to. It was very important to her that her children get excellent grades on their school tests.
Later, when I had my own children, the month of September was also associated with the start of school.
Before the end of July, the teachers would give us a list of supplies the children would need for the new school year. It was usually a very long list, including several new books adapted to the grade level; a large collection of notebooks of all kinds, lined, double-lined for practicing handwriting, and graph paper, which was used for math-related operations.
There were also different types of colored pencils, reams of white paper, sheets of paper in different colors, glue sticks, scissors, rulers, and set squares. Those school lists seemed endless.
Since we had to buy supplies for several children, my wife and I would start organizing ourselves in the first half of August to buy everything we needed.
The first things we bought were new uniforms, shoes, shirts, pants, socks, and the uniform for physical education activities, which usually included a white T-shirt with the school logo printed on the upper left side. Those T-shirts were always bought at the same store. Each school had its own exclusive suppliers.
The children loved to participate in all these preparations. They accompanied us on our shopping trips, and we always ended the day by celebrating with some delicious ice cream from the traditional ice cream shops in Maracay.
When I was a teacher, September was also associated with the start of the new school year. Although classes at the high school did not start until October, teachers had to attend preparations for the new year starting in the second half of September.
Activities usually began with a large meeting attended by administrators and teaching staff, where everyone presented the strategies they thought were most appropriate for improving student learning. I loved those meetings because they were a great opportunity to hear new ideas that would improve our work in the classroom.
Then we would distribute everyone's schedules and organize the student registration process.
I remember that in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, we always had to open new sections because the demand for places continued to grow every year. Now I am sad to see that school classrooms, especially in the public sector, have very low attendance due to the large emigration that we Venezuelans have experienced in the last fifteen years.
Another thing I have always liked about September is that the light in the sky begins to change. As the month progresses, the sky becomes much brighter, and the contrast between the deep blue and the white clouds becomes more intense. This sky becomes increasingly bright and transparent until December and the first days of January.
Even though we are in the intertropical zone, September allows us to appreciate some quite remarkable changes. I love September.
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Translated with DeepL.com (free version).
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