Back to School, Back to School!

While summer is drawing to a close many students are getting ready to go back to school (some of you may even be starting classes today!)

I remember fondly the first day of school, picking out what to wear (I had a uniform, so my options were limited, but I was always accessorizing that terrible plaid skirt), deciding which pencils and notebooks to bring, nervously chewing on my hair as I met my teacher for the first time.

And then the first day jitters were over and I made friends with the new kids or chatted up old friends I hadn't seen all summer. Slowly I began learning multiplication tables and reading new books, not simply overtaking the entire playground on the tether ball court.

Then there was that one day towards the beginning of the school year when we would have fire and earthquake drills! We would get under our desks as the simulated sounds of the earth moving and things crashing began playing over the loud speaker. When the fire alarm went off we quietly lined up by the door and made it out of the building to our meeting spot.

I never remember being frightened that one day we actually had a real fire in the faculty kitchen. We lined up just as we had practiced so many times before and got to our spot as we watched the firefighters come with their hoses and put out the blaze. I was grateful for those practices that day and knew that the school would keep me safe.

So as you, your kids, your family, and your friends head back to school for another year make sure you do everything you can to Be Prepared. And get everything you need for your younger students or college bound kids at the Red Cross store.