Classes begin at Henderson International School

Mona Shield Payne/Special to the Home News

Hannah Hayhurst receives a good luck kiss from her mom, Diane, on the first day of classes at Henderson International School on the Windmill Campus on Aug. 18.

By Diana Cox (contact)

Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 | 1:06 p.m.

A grown man carries carrying a pink backpack adorned with Cinderella, Snow White, Ariel and Belle. His princess has her lunchbox in one hand and the other hand grasping her mother’s.

A few feet away two girls wearing brand new sneakers hold hands on the playground, soon a third joins them, and they all grab hands while they watch the action on the playground.

While other children in Clark County were still basking in the last few days of summer vacation Aug. 18, students at Henderson International School smiled for their parents’ cameras and greeted their friends and teachers for another school year.

About 250 students returned to the Windmill campus of the Henderson International School, an independent private school, home of the school’s kindergarten through fourth grade classes. It is one of three campuses the school maintains in Henderson.

Parents Susan and Dave Deady, who chose Henderson International for the curriculum and smaller class sizes, appeared reluctant to leave their two sons last week.

“You never get used to the first day of school,” Susan Deady said. Some children clutched their parents’ hands, while others squirmed out of hugs and looked around quickly while their mothers kissed their cheeks.

Some of the older students stood out as veterans of the first-day-of-school routine. Christopher Merhi, a third grader, was on his own on the playground and talkative. He proudly spoke of the three weeks he spent in Anchorage, Alaska, over the summer and said that he was looking forward to math class this year.

Teacher Bill Kiefer started the day by explaining the usual classroom rules to his fourth graders.

“It’s nice to have fourth graders,” he told the class, noting their age and maturity. “You don’t have to go through all the little squeaker rules,” such as asking for permission to sharpen their pencils. Next year, these students will move to the Sandy Ridge campus, where fifth through 12th graders attend.

This year, the fourth graders at Henderson International begin what in public school is a middle school routine: switching among classes. They will have three teachers, with Kiefer as their homeroom.

The goal, Kiefer told the students, is for them to be organized by the end of the year, using their binders to keep all of their papers sorted and taking it with them to each class.

Not quite everything was ready for the first day, however. Kiefer told his class that their P.E. uniforms had not arrived yet, but students would still get a break from the daily routine. The plan for the first day was to head to the Sandy Ridge campus and watch a ribbon-cutting for the new high school building.

Diana Cox is a reporter for the Home News. She can be reached at 990-8183 or diana.cox@hbcpub.com.