Cool For School Three Kids Talk About Excitement Of Starting At Their New Schools

Kenny Phifer can hardly contain his excitement.

Squirming on the living room floor of his Newman Lake home, the 5-year-old proudly shows off his new Classic Speedway Racers backpack and Converse high-top sneakers.

“I’m saving them for the first day, but I wore them for a little while once,” Kenny said of the sneakers.

In just six days, he’ll start kindergarten at Otis Orchards Elementary.

All summer, he’s been practicing tying his shoelaces and writing his ABCs, which he doesn’t really like. “But I do it, because I have to be ready. I can’t wait,” Kenny said, through a big smile, minus his two bottom front teeth.

When Kenny turned 5 in February, he informed his mother that he was ready to have his immunization shots for school. “He said, ‘I know they’re going to hurt, but I’m tough, Mom,”’ said Gail Phifer.

Unlike some of his peers, Kenny has had a little advance preparation for school. His older brother, Billy, will be in second grade at Otis Orchards this year and has been giving Kenny tips.

For example, Kenny is pretty sure most of his new friends will be boys, but “Billy made friends with some girls, so I might, too,” Kenny said.

Still, Kenny has no idea what awaits him during his first day at Otis. He’s a little nervous that the school won’t accept him if he doesn’t know how to read.

And although he’s not sure what he’ll wear on the first day, Kenny will wear his new Converse hightops “all the days, ‘til they get weared out.”

Robbie Syron, 12, is a pretty cool character.

He begins a new school this year, but doesn’t seem fazed.

“It’s just older kids,” Robbie said with a shrug. “I think it’s going to be fun, not really scary at all.”

On Wednesday, Syron will start sixth grade at Centennial Middle School, after four years at Pasadena Park Elementary and one year at Seth Woodard School.

Robbie’s calm composure could be due to his size. At 5-foot-5, the lean blond-haired boy with a mouth full of braces is bigger than most his age. He thinks that’ll help him blend in with older kids.

And though he’ll be one of the younger kids, at least he’ll be an authority. Robbie was elected sixth grade representative partly because of a promise to broadcast a popular radio station through the halls of the school.

He ran for class rep because “it sounded like fun and … I don’t know, just being powerful,” he said with a sheepish grin.

Robbie, who’s never received a ‘C,’ has been preparing for school by practicing multiplication and reading a lot during the summer.

And after a school shopping trip, he relaxes in a Mossimo T-shirt, Airwalk sneakers and new jeans. “Name brands are pretty popular - Mossimo, Stussy,” he said.

Despite his composure, he’s a little nervous about finding his way around Centennial. “It’s a lot bigger, all the halls look the same,” he said.

And middle school creeps closer to high school, which does make him nervous. “It’s going to be weird,” he said. “There will be a lot more guns and drugs.”

Just mention high school and Carisa McCathern takes a deep breath, bites her lip and rolls her eyes.

After nine years in the Freeman School District’s joint elementary/ middle school building, McCathern made the leap to the high school on Tuesday.

She’s been nervous all summer.

She’s an honor roll student, but is nervous about failing because classes will be harder.

She plays three sports, but is nervous she’ll be cut from a team.

And although she already knows high school students through her older sister and the school band, she’s nervous about fitting in.

“Just to be up and around all the high schoolers and see what they think of you,” said Carisa, who will be 15 next month.

Her sister Angela, a junior, has been giving her pointers, but scaring her a little too.

“My sister said the freshmen feel like dorks because they just stand there, because they don’t know what to do,” Carisa said.

Angela, passing through the room on her way back from volleyball practice nodded to Carisa and said, “She’ll be nervous, I know.”

“You have to get there early (the first day) because you want to get a good locker,” Carisa said breathlessly, as if it’s all just too much to take. Those who do not arrive early, she said, will get stuck with a smaller locker or have to share.

But the nervousness is mixed with excitement too. Finally being in high school has its benefits.

“It will be fun to go to the football games and sit with the high schoolers and not feel dumb sitting with them,” she said.

And, she said, “I’m kind of excited for the dances,” which they didn’t have in junior high. In high school, there’s a Christmas dance, homecoming dance and Valentine’s dance.

“Then you get to go out with a guy and a guy asks you to go,” Carisa said, her words tumbling out on top of each other.

“But I’m kind of nervous to see if I’ll be asked or not.”

Big surprise.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Photos (1 color)