Final bell rings out another school year

The desks in Cindy Bellezzo's fifth-grade classroom were covered in shaving cream. So were the hands of her students as they wrote messages in the white goop on their desks.

"If you had one wish to get rid of anything in the world, what would it be?" Bellezzo instructed.

"Wasps," wrote Taylor.

"World hunger," wrote Mark.

"Nuclear weapons," wrote Jessica, telling her teacher that nuclear weapons have led to the deaths of many people.

The activity might have been messy, but there was no doubt the students in Bellezzo's class were learning, even on the last day of school.

Excited, a little sad about moving on and perhaps a bit wiser, Collier County students were allowed to start their summer vacations a little early Friday, thanks to an early dismissal for summer break.

"I think the last day of school has not changed in 100 years," said George Brenco, principal at Pine Ridge Middle School. "We're excited that summer is starting and a little sad, but we know we will be here soon to start preparing for next year."

Joe Landon, communication and information officer for the district, said attendance at the schools was 93.3 percent districtwide.

"It is normal today, since a typical day's attendance rate will run between 92 and 94 percent," he wrote in an e-mail.

A sampling of schools showed that was the case. About 98 percent of the students at Gulf Coast and Palmetto Ridge high schools were in attendance Friday, as were 94 percent of Manatee Middle School's 586 students.

Only Lake Trafford Elementary School, at 85 percent, and The Learning Center, at 77 percent, had attendance figures lower than the norm, Landon said.

At Lake Park Elementary School, where about 91 percent of the students came to school on Friday, first-graders were excited to start their summer early.

"I am going to go to the library and check out five books and get a movie. Then, we are going to Dairy Queen," Julianna Gregory said of her afterschool plans.

Julianna, 7, also was excited about going to second grade next year.

"I just can't wait to get smarter," she said.

In fifth grade, the students were excited to be moving on, but a little nervous, too.

"I'm half-scared because we're going to have lockers and, as our teacher says, we are going to be the little fish in the big pond," said 11-year-old Wesley Walker. "But I'm happy because we are going to have more independence and (physical education) every day."

At Pine Ridge Middle School, Katherine Kehoe was spending her last day as a sixth-grader.

"The best thing (about this year) was making new friends," the 12-year-old said. "I'm sad (to be leaving school) because I had a lot of good teachers this year. But I am happy that it's summer."

Joseph Diodati, 12, had some words of advice for the fifth-grade students who will be coming to middle school next year,

"It's not as hard as you might think," said the Pine Ridge Middle School sixth-grader. "It's fun."

At Golden Gate Middle School, eighth-grade students were excited about the things they were going to do this summer. While Brandon Perez, 14, planned to travel to Costa Rica with his church for a mission trip, classmates Natalie Barrios and Kaytlynn Petersen, both 14, were excited about going to the Van's Warped Tour.

But the three said they would miss Golden Gate Middle School.

"The teachers are all nice here. They know us. They gave Golden Gate Middle School a chance when other people wouldn't listen. It's a good school," Kaytlynn said.

Kaytlynn had some advice for the incoming eighth-grade class.

"Don't let being an eighth-grader go to your head," she said. "You are at the top of the school next year, but the year after that you are going back to the bottom."

Natalie said the eighth-grade year went by fast, but she is excited to go to high school at either Naples High School or The Community School of Naples next year.

"I can start over new, meet new people. High school and middle school are so different," she said. "I have mixed emotions. I am sad to leave the friends I have known, but I am ready for something new."

Bellezzo had one last homework assignment for her students, whose eyes got wide at the thought of homework for summer. She wanted them to go home and do a chore for their parents before the parents asked.

"You will be amazed at what you get in return," she said, telling her students she knows in her heart they will complete the assignment.

Bellezzo said she was sad to see her fifth-graders go.

"It hasn't hit me fully yet that I won't see them anymore. But I have such fantastic memories of this class," she said, looking at a scrapbook her students made. "They can do anything. All they have to do is try. I try to teach them that beauty on the outside is not as important as beauty on the inside."