Students of the senior class that attended a Lovejoy district elementary school were invited to return for a celebratory breakfast Thursday morning that featured activities such as prison ball and playing the recorder. Students and teachers alike were given the opportunity to see faces from the past, which led to some confusion.

“I was really nervous because I’ve seen several of y’all around, but there’s people like AJ (senior AJ DeTorrice) that I haven’t seen around and he looks completely different to me,” Sloan Creek teacher Cyndi Anderson said. “I’m nervous because I don’t want people to think that I don’t remember them.”

The students at Hart all received name tags that had a former yearbook picture of them to help remember what it was like as well as help the teachers recognize the changed faces.

“I feel like the teachers should’ve worn little badges with their names and the subject that they taught when we were here,” senior Lydia Fennell said. “They’ve changed too, it’s been a long time.”

Despite the time gone by, students and teachers were able to exchange memories.

“Y’all were my first experience ever at Lovejoy,” Anderson said. “I’ve used stories from your group still today with my fifth and sixth graders.”

Likewise, elementary teachers can have a big impact on their students as previously forgotten anecdotes can resurface in reunion conversations.

“You got us all into 5 gum and those pens!” Fennell said. “I still call them Mrs. Anderson pens.”

After talking with the teachers for a while, the students played prison ball. To wrap up the event, one by one the students said their plans for after graduation.

“I guess that shows one of the benefits of a small school, we get to be able to come back and see all the teachers and know that most of them are still gonna be there,” senior Max Anderson said. “It kinda shows what the Lovejoy community is all about, sticking together.”