mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- Two days ago, Sally Tenaglia woke up and thought about the start of school at Cresset Christian Academy on Wednesday.
"This is curious," she said, speaking for herself and friend Audrianna Frederick. "We're going to be seniors now. We're a little nervous."
On Wednesday, Frederick woke up and ... thought about going back to bed.
"Honestly, I pressed the snooze button about six times before I woke up," she said.
Butterflies and drowsiness aside, Frederick and Tenaglia both got to class Wednesday at Cresset, the first large private school in Durham County to kick off the 2009-10 school year. In fact, both stayed after their last class was dismissed to speak with English and theater teacher Stephanie Smith.
Smith said that the first day of school went well for her. She tried a new tactic this year: after distributing a syllabus, she had her pupils write an in-class essay on the environment.
"It was hard work that first day, and it got them back in the groove immediately," she said.
Standing outside her office, Gail Murphy, Cresset's head administrator, said that the day had gone well from her viewpoint, too. "It's always wonderful having the students back," she said. "I mean, that's what we're here for, for the families."
The school has about 330 youngsters age 0 to 18 enrolled now, Murphy said, which despite the recession is ahead of earlier years' student populations. Cresset typically gets around 330 pupils, with new admissions usually occurring after the school year begins, according to Murphy. (The state office overseeing private education listed the school's Oct. 1, 2008, enrollment in kindergarten through grade 12 as 254 students.)
Everyone in the building Wednesday was in for a treat, Murphy noted, pointing to the newly refurbished hallway outside her office. Not only was that corridor's carpeting replaced with tile, bathrooms and doors at the school were updated, and a gleaming new hardwood surface was installed in the gymnasium.
Of the 14 private schools in Durham County with the largest enrollments, Cresset started the 2008-09 academic year first. "The reason we do that is so we end our first term before Christmas so our kids aren't studying over Christmas," Murphy said.
Annette Madden, an official at UNC's Friday Center for Continuing Education, has a son in sixth grade and a daughter in third grade at Cresset. The early start to the school year is no trouble for Madden, who was pleased to get her children back into school and on a regular schedule.
"I was singing to my kids, 'It's the most wonderful time of the year,'" said Madden, who compared the start of school to Christmas in August. "I'm not so sure they appreciate it, but as a parent, it's wonderful."
