Back to school for Calcasieu parish students

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Summer is officially over for students in Calcasieu Parish. Today, students packed up their back packs and headed back into the classroom for the next nine months.

“We are emphasizing really three new things: creativity, innovation, and then ownership on everyone’s part,” Superintendent Karl Bruchhaus said.

That is the new motto for schools in Calcasieu parish. With 160 new teachers in the parish this year, Superintendent Bruchhaus says they have been working hard to prepare.

“Maintenance on our buses, delivering food to the cafeteria, all of our teachers in training last week for days,” Bruchhaus said.

However, the wait is over, many families, teachers, and staff were up early for school. As were the bus drivers, like twenty-three year veteran, Mrs. Sheryl Winfrey.

“I love my job and to see the sweet faces, it’s going to be a relationship that last forever because I do get to have them from Pre-K all the way to high school. So I get to know them very good,” Winfrey said.

Once dropped off, it’s up to the teachers to inspire the student with the desire to learn. Mrs. Kim Hardy teaches junior and senior English and says she has found the recipe for success.

“You can teach Shakespeare all day long, you can teach grammar, you can teach all of those things, but if they don’t see how it applies to them, how they are going to use it. It’s kinda hard for them to stay motivated,” Hardy said.

However, for the kids in middle school, motivation isn’t a problem.

“I want to go to LSU when I’m older, so I have to get good grades to get into LSU and I wanna get a scholarship cause I can’t afford it, so if I get a scholarship I can go and play baseball over there,” 7th grader Colton Gremillion said.

“To study and pass all of my subjects and all things like that to excel because I want to go to LSU to be a Veterinarian,” 8th grader Rylee Walters said.

With the right guidance, teaching, and confidence, the students know if they work hard, anything is possible.

“We have a small town and everybody knows everybody, so it just makes it feel like family.”

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