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Calverton shakes things up on first day
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
First-grader Carter Scott, 6, is greeted by Lower School Head Grace Yannakakis on the first day of school Tuesday at The Calverton School in Huntingtown. His brother Evan, 3, is starting pre-school at Calverton.
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What initially seems like a back to school tradition is actually a daily ritual at The Calverton School in Huntingtown.
On Tuesday, when the private preschool-through-12th-grade school started its 2010-2011 school year, each student shook hands with the school's administrators and staff.
Lower School Head Grace Yannakakis said that "The Calverton Shake" has been around since the school opened in 1967.
"I think it's really meaningful for the children. It's, ‘Welcome to school; here's our day.' It sets the expectations up front," she said of the tradition, which is done in every division of the school.
Yannakakis added that the small size of The Calverton School made rituals like the handshake possible.
"I think it's one of the gifts of the community. … I know it gives me the chance to make eye contact with the children and we get to know each other," she said.
The school will also be starting a new tradition this year, as both Yannakakis and Calverton Communications and Marketing Coordinator Holly Reynolds Lee said the school was now independent from Calvert County when it came to inclement weather decisions.
Lee said that because the school contained students from five counties — Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George's and St. Mary's —"It's always possible that what happens in one county might not happen in another."
She also pointed out that many Calverton students come to school by car rather than school bus, which also needed to be taken into account when deciding whether to close school.
Yannakakis additionally pointed out that while the school had always "more or less followed the county" in regard to closing school, "we sometimes have a degree of weather and it clears up very quickly."
She said that safety of students and staff would always remain the biggest priority.
On Tuesday, however, snow days were probably the last thing on students' and staff members' minds.
"It's like a holiday; we're so excited," Lee said of the first day of school.
Second-grader Olivia Colella of Shady Side said she was looking forward to her math classes because, "it helps your brain."
Olivia, 7, said she was happy to be back in school and liked giving all of her instructors a firm handshake.
"I always do it," she said with a smile.
Fifth-grader Sydney Zecca of Prince Frederick said her handshaking skills felt a little rusty.
"It feels different because I haven't done it in a whole summer," the 10-year-old said, adding that the tradition, "is nice because you get to see everybody."
