Rick Marcotte Central School Welcomes New Students

Kids traded in their swim bags and suitcases for school backpacks two weeks ago, as summer break came to an end. Rick Marcotte Central School welcomed more than 40 new students and a new class of Kindergarteners at their opening C.A.R.E.S. assembly Friday, August 29. C.A.R.E.S stands for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control, the positive character traits the school seeks to cultivate in students.

The assembly opened with employees of IBM presenting a check for $1,000 to the school, the culmination of the group’s volunteer work in classrooms last year.

Teachers each introduced the new students in their classes. Students came from neighboring Vermont communities as well as Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, California and as far away as Italy!

In keeping with a 30-year old tradition, the school’s fifth graders presented this year’s Kindergarteners with a welcome carnation. Each fifth grader is paired with a Kindergarten “bus buddy” for the year. As mentors, they show their young friends to the bus after school each day, sit with them at assemblies, and generally ease their transition to elementary school.

At the close of Friday’s assembly, kids sung along with the “Be a Buddy” music video, which shows RMCS students demonstrating their CARES values and the entire school singing the song written by teachers Rosemary Holloway and Roberta Pennington:

Try to find a way to play

Make someone’s life better today

Be a buddy--that’s the way

Stand up for a friend to-day!

SOURCE: Michelle Rosowsky, RMCS PTO