By SARAH GLEASON

Editor-in-Chief

Buses filled with students rolled into the expanded parking lot on the much anticipated first day of school on Thursday, when a record 88 seniors started their final year.

The freshman class numbers 83 this year; the sophomores are holding at 80 students; and the junior class is set to break another record next year if everyone stays put, at 89 class members, according to enrollment figures supplied by the administration.  The total school enrollment this year is 340 students.

Senior Jessica DelVirginia of Freehold was not among the morning bus riders that day.  “For the fourth year my bus didn’t come, so I had a friend drive me to school,” she said.

Principal James Gleason asked teachers to be patient with classroom attendance during a loudspeaker announcement, since bus mix-ups during the first week of school are common, he said.

“A girl got on our bus and she wasn’t supposed to, so when we got to CHS she was like, ‘This isn’t my school,’” freshman James Boyle of Avon said.

All freshmen were ushered into the cafeteria for an assembly at 9:45 a.m. hosted by current National Honor Society members.

“We think it’s really important for the freshmen to come in with a built-in buddy, and that’s what the seniors are. They come in on the first day and have an automatic friend,” NHS Vice-President Kristiane Olson said.

In addition to the NHS meet-and-greet, freshmen were given the unofficial CHS Survival Guide, created by the council members.

“We edited them together to keep them school-appropriate so nobody’s toes would be stepped on,” Olsen said, in reference to the 18 tips.

Freshman Julia Harvey of Howell said freshmen also got to mingle outside the assembly.

“In TV/Radio Production they had us interview the person sitting next to us,” she said.

“I’ve met a good amount of people, and I’ve made friends already,” freshman Beau Bradley of Avon said. “I’m looking forward to digital video and geometry.”

Design Academy junior Juliana Hymanson said that the atmosphere was very much different from her home high school, Middletown South.

“I feel like everyone knows everyone,” she said. “I’ve never had block scheduling before, but I like it a lot better,” she added.

Gleason ended the day with a school wide assembly, which he conducts every year as part of tradition.

“It’s a good way of welcoming everybody back to a new school year and encouraging everybody to do their best,” he said.

View The Freshman Survival Guide HERE