Summer's Over? Already?

I'm sitting in my new classroom, supposedly preparing for the IB Summer Bridge program -- a weeklong introduction to MHS for the incoming pre-IB students. This is my first official workday related to the 2010 - 2011 year, so I guess the summer is over, although after today, I still have about 2 1/2 weeks completely free, and 3 other weeks in which the workload will be pretty light, before school officially begins. Still, though... it's mid-July, dammit.

In about March, I applied for 2010 - 2011 teaching positions in the county immediately to the south of this one; a county which is significantly wealthier. The principal with whom I interviewed noted that over 97% of students pass the Statewide Test on the first try, and about the same percentage or more go to college. It's a totally different world than the one I'm currently in. I got an offer from one school and an opportunity to interview at another, and turned them both down. I am sure I will have days I curse myself for having made that decision, but I'm also very excited about teaching the pre-IB courses, as well as the AP Stats course.

I need to come up with something interesting to say to 40 or so incoming freshmen, and I'm being paid to do it today, so with that...