At Jennifer Chiaravalle’s house in Rye, breakfast on the first day of school is a big deal.
It began when her eldest daughter, Bella, was young, with friends gathering at their home early in the morning before the first day began. It continued when her middle daughter, Ava, made her way through school. And now, it will finish this year as her youngest daughter, Frankie, enters her senior year at Rye High School.
“The breakfast itself has grown up with them,” Chiaravalle said. “It went from donuts, bagels, and juice with little girls who were nervous about their first day to coffee and tea with teenagers who are excited to see their friends again. But the feeling of the morning really hasn’t changed.”
Photos taken on Chiaravalle’s front steps after each breakfast document the lifelong memories of friends growing up together. Chiaravalle said she doesn’t know if another family will take over hosting the tradition after Frankie graduates, but she hopes someone will take the reins and keep it going.
“I can picture them when they were so little, showing up with their backpacks and first-day nerves, and now we’re welcoming girls who are about to begin their senior year,” she said. “Seeing those friendships grow up alongside our daughters is probably what stands out to me most.”
Throughout the city, similar events are set to welcome students back to Rye’s schools.
The back-to-school season brings not only new class schedules and fresh school supplies, but also events that celebrate the start of the academic year, ease first-day jitters, and help students reconnect after a summer apart.
At Rye Neck Middle School, incoming sixth graders are invited to “Bagels and Locks” at the end of August, a day when they can connect with new classmates over breakfast, tour the campus, and decorate their lockers.
Families at F.E. Bellows and Daniel Warren elementary schools gather on Sept. 1 to sketch warm and encouraging messages on the sidewalks leading up to the schools.
At School of the Holy Child, the academic year kicks off with an annual New Family Welcome Party. The barbecue celebration gives new students and families a chance to get to know classmates, teachers, and staff ahead of the start of classes.
Rye Country Day School’s yearly Back-to-School Block Party gathers new and returning students and faculty for a day full of live music, food trucks, and family fun.
From breakfasts to block parties, traditions have become a hallmark of school’s start, helping students reconnect and settle in for the year ahead.
