As the 2022-2023 Back to School Night inched closer, teachers at UHS were busy preparing for the special event. This year, the event took place on Sept. 1 and was held in person for the first time after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the event being held online for the past two years.

During Back to School Night, parents were able to tour each of their student’s classrooms in ten-minute sessions, in which teachers shared the course expectations and answered questions. Since the sessions were fairly short for each class, teachers were thoughtful about distributing their time effectively in each session. Even though teachers found it tricky to squeeze in a heap of content within a few minutes, many were able to accomplish it. 

English teacher Mrs. Adrienne Miyadi is one of many teachers that planned for the tough time crunch. 

“With only ten minutes available for each period, I’m going to focus on welcoming parents and families and giving them a sense of the course, our classroom and who I am as a teacher,” Mrs. Miyadi said. 

While some teachers were more interested in giving overviews of their courses, others gave more in-depth presentations, including tips on studying and other helpful advice on school topics for parents to pass along to their students. 

Meanwhile, in the UHS Dance Department plans were a bit different than usual. Instead of just introducing himself as a teacher, the head of the UHS Dance Department and Dance Company teacher Mr. Edward Johnson wanted to use his time to show parents dance not simply as a form of art, but as something more than that. 

“I want to give parents a little bit of background on how the dance courses will apply both to arts in general and also to how it applies outside the classroom, either to other classes or later in life,” Mr. Johnson said. 

As compared to last year’s online Back to School Night where teachers filmed their introductions and uploaded them to Canvas, many teachers were glad to return to an in-person format this year. Being able to connect with parents face to face, many teachers felt like it was easier to communicate than online, where the instructor could not answer parents’ questions immediately, making it hard for parents to get an immediate response.

“I’m excited to return to an in-person Back to School Night!” Mrs. Miyadi said. “There is nothing quite like meeting parents and families in person.”

Perhaps the enjoyment of an in-person Back to School Night is best reflected by the annual Dance Company Bake Sale.

“Every year, the Dance Company does a bake sale as part of Back to School Night,” Mr. Johnson said. “I feel like it is one of the first times where I get to see the character of the ensemble dance member coming together, and [we] just have fun together.”

Despite the difficult logistics of planning for this year’s Back to School Night, many teachers and parents still had an enjoyable and positive experience being able to connect. Compared to last year, this year’s Back to School Night gave parents a good opportunity to get a sense of their students’ classroom environment.