Students head back to class

CLOVIS — Jyson Jackson walked into Zia Elementary School on Monday morning with confidence and a goal:

"I want to learn everything so that I can be smart," he declared.

Clovis students returned to school on Monday; some, like 5-year-old Jyson, with joy and determination, others ... not so much.

Some students in Kendra Aucutt's kindergarten classroom said they were nervous as they began their academic careers.

And not just about learning.

Some worried about sleeping too late and missing school. Another worried about accidentally falling off the slide on the playground.

Aucutt, a 17-year teaching veteran, has seen it all before. She teaches, she said, to see her students develop into lifelong learners.

She spent part of Monday morning sharing hugs with last year's students who've moved on to first grade.

"To see where they started, and where they ended, the outcome is just amazing," she said.

Aucutt said the key to easing the nerves of students, and their parents, is to "just make them feel comfortable and safe."

To help with that process, Zia Elementary School has a program in place for students of all grades.

Principal Shalea Bennett said Student to Student is modeled after a military program.

"(It) pairs new students up with our fifth-grade students that are on the hospitality committee," she said.

The older students' roles range from showing the young ones around campus to just making them feel welcome.

Fifth-graders benefit because it "gives them leadership skills," Bennett said.

"We have a really welcome environment. Our focus has always been on academic excellence and school culture," Bennett said.

Clovis Municipal Schools preschool classes begin Thursday. The district's first semester ends Dec. 20. The last day of school is May 23.