MIAMI-DADE

Students vow to start off school year with new game plan

Related Content

First day of school in South Florida brings innovation

BY CHRISTINA VEIGA

CVEIGA@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Back to school. Back to books. Back to old habits?

Not so, said students across Miami-Dade County.

A new school year means a fresh start: Promises to balance work and play, get to bed early and study more. Parents and teachers, too, are toning up for the demanding race to be run over the next 180 days. The opening bell starts the sprint, followed by schoolwork, tests, homework, sports schedules, band practice, dance lessons, after-school activities, tutoring, family dinners and anything else that falls in between.

``One of the things I need to do is set deadlines,'' said Tom Albano, an educational leadership doctoral student at Florida International University, who was buying a day planner at the FIU bookstore.

Alan Diaz, a 20-year-old junior majoring in international business, said he hopes to spend more time hitting the books.

His resolution: ``Invest more time in school, rather than work.''

Diaz just quit his retail job, freeing up more time for studying. ``I don't have to stress out and think, `Oh, I have to go to work,' '' he said. ``I can stay here and get ahead.''

For some students, the new school year brings transitions as they enter into middle or high school, or transfer to a new school.

Richard Barbella, 16, is transferring to Miami Christian School in Sweetwater, where he will play baseball.

Barbella, a pitcher, hopes to make good grades and improve his skills on the baseball diamond so he can be named an All-Dade athlete.

``It would be one of my biggest goals. I've been wanting to do it,'' said Barbella, a junior, who plans on attending tutoring sessions and spending extra time training.

Sometimes it's not easy to strike a balance between work in the classroom and play on the field.

As Simran Sakraney, 14, enters Coral Reef Senior High School as a freshman, she hopes she can find that balance.

She thought of all the things she wants to do while in high school: take Advanced Placement and other college-level courses, while participating in extra-curricular activities such as dance and journalism.

``It's high school. I want to get good grades and have fun,'' she said.

Jessica Broche, 17, who was shopping with her mother at Dolphin Mall, already is charting a course for college.

``I want to get through my AP classes with A's. I pretty much want to have fun, but doing all my work at the same time and not procrastinate at all,'' said Broche, who will be a senior at Marathon High School.

For some, striking a good balance means starting with the basics.

``I would like to go to sleep earlier and get a good night's rest to have a clear head when I wake up,'' said Ana Valentina Ojeda, a sixth-grader at the new Coral Gables K-8 Preparatory Academy. ``And I want to study more to get good grades.''

Fifth-grader Valerie Basto has spent her summer working toward a similar goal.

``I studied the multiplication tables during the summer and I almost know all of them. This coming year I have one goal: Get straight A's,'' said Basto, 10, who will attend Aventura City of Excellence School.

Students aren't the only ones setting goals; teachers also have their own resolutions.

Angeline Falcon, 26, a kindergarten teacher at Gulliver Academy in Coral Gables, threw in classroom supplies as she pushed a cart around the Office Depot off Coral Way and 27th Avenue.

She grabbed sticky notes shaped like Woodstock and Snoopy and cardboard cutouts of Charlie Brown for her bulletin board. Falcon is betting that her third year teaching will be the best one yet.

``I feel my classroom environment is fun, exciting and warm. Ultimately, I want both my kids and their parents to feel my kindergarten class is the best for them.''

Sitting on the gym steps at Miami Senior High, basketball in hand, Marcus Carreño, 33, expects the students in his physical education class to give it their all.

``There are a lot of kids who don't feel comfortable doing P.E. and I want to make sure they're at ease. I want my students to know that being healthy is important and putting in your best effort is what you really need to be successful in my class.''

Parents have their own goals in mind.

Eliana Bugnone shopped at Office Max in Hallandale and vowed to help her children excel in school.

Her children, Sophia Bugnone, 8, and Eric Bugnone, 5, are entering kindergarten and third grade, respectively, at Little Flower Catholic School in Hollywood.

``This year I'll try to help them as much as I can and give them a space in the house to study quietly,'' she said.

Miami Herald reporters Karina Chavarria, Daiana Kucawca and Melissa Montoya contributed to this report

Classics in Social Science - Projections

Wednesday, November 3, 2010