LIBERTY, Mo. — Another round of Missouri schools go back to class Wednesday, including Liberty.
We love all the first-day vibes for students and parents, but what's it like for teachers?
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I sat down with two Liberty teachers last week as they prepared for very different first days — one is about to have her first while the other is about to experience her 25th.
"It's going to be something to get used to for sure,” third-grade teacher Aubrie Harris told me. “It's different going from growing up in the district to now being a teacher in the district. Definitely some first-day jitters for sure."
Harris has numerous first-day-of-school memories and pictures from her time as a Liberty student.
But now, instead of her name or picture being one little piece of decoration, a whole classroom at Warren Hills Elementary belongs to her.
"I had so much fun putting it together," she said. “I'm kind of adding the finishing touches to it. I love it. It's my home away from home."
While Harris has a few first-day jitters, she has great support nearby. Her husband is a teacher and coach on another campus, and she has a fellow third-grade teacher as a mentor.
"It gives me someone that I'm able to rely on and go to with my questions, and have her give me feedback," Harris said.
Just a few miles down the road at Manor Hill Elementary, the first day feels a little different for special education teacher Trisha Harmon.
"Part of me is a little bit surprised that I'm still here 25 years later because it's a very physically demanding job," Harmon said. "It's just as exciting. I don't think I'm quite as nervous, but it's just as exciting."
First day No. 25 for Harmon is also first day No. 15 in the same classroom, which is packed with personal touches, including a school-bus-shaped reading nook.
Time has taught her to look at her room differently than she did in year one.
"I probably was sweating the wrong things," Harmon said with a big smile. “Twenty-five years ago, it was my classroom, and we did things my way. And that is not true. It's not true of the world, and it's not true of classrooms anymore. This is the students' classroom; I'm just a tool here in the room."
That perspective is something Harris doesn't have just yet.
She, like her students, has much more ahead in her education journey than behind. Still, she already has a pretty powerful take on her spot in students' lives.
"I know that they're not going to remember every single thing I taught them,” Harris said. “But they will remember how I treated them and how I made them feel, so that's my biggest thing to focus on."
Harmon told me she has no plans to retire any time soon.
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