European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 6 the stars and stripes tuesday August 30,1988 at left 6-year-old Ashley Francis Sharpens her Pencil and grins in excite study in contrasts is Steve Morrison ment on the first Day of school at Hahn a Germany. In Sharp contrast another beginner right photo seems unable to find anything to be Happy about on the momentous occasion declining to stray from the Security of his Mother. 1 St Day jitters fade fast for kids teachers by Dave Walczak education writer Hahn a Germany the recipe was simple. Start with excitement and tension. Add pencils notebooks and new in a hint of autumn weather and you be got it. The first Day of school. Hahn elementary joined hundreds of other department of defense dependents schools with the same monday recipe. By 8a.m., More than 150,000 students and teachers overseas were getting their first taste of the 1988-89 school year. If Hahn elementary was any example the Day started with what one teacher called dancing the kids Are thinking what s my teacher going to be like " said Terry Zeytoonian who teaches fifth i m thinking about what my class is going to be opening Day jitters affected the entire faculty said fifth Grade teacher Andy Giese. Several of the fifth Grade teacher were standing around just before school started wringing their hands saying what s it going to be like today " the answer came quickly for Giese starting her first year at Hahn after a four year stint at Gaeta elementary i Italy. I looked out into a sea of faces and there were smiles and their eyes were dancing she said. It took one of her students Jaso Turner a few moments to get in step. He was the last to arrive in Giese s class having to escort his 9-year-old brother Joshua to a third Grade class. "1 thought she was real strict at first he said about his new teacher. But she got nicer and the uneasy feeling accompanying the first Bell was hardly restricted to the 12-years-and-younger crowd. One of the kids came up to me an said he had butterflies in his stomach said Susan Burdick who teaches second Grade. I Felt like telling him that he s not the Only even Hahn elementary s principal was t totally at ease. You still get the butterflies said Nick Siuda starting his eighth year at the school that serves about 1,400 students. Siuda said his top concern was How the 20 new faculty members would adjust to their first Day on the Job. One of them seemed to have Little trouble. Second Grade teacher Lorna Holt who could t wait for the school year to begin said she Felt her first year at hah would be a Success after spending just two hours with her class. You get a feeling she said. You can size up a class. I saw they behaved on their Way Here and in the classroom. I did t have any Bounce off the most of the Hahn students were looking their Best for the first of 183 classroom Days. Val Siefermann 10, wore a new Blue shirt and jeans because i wanted to Wear something Nice on the first Day of a classmate Elizabeth Mcmorran who claimed to be almost 11," passed up a dress for a Blue sweater and skirt. I Don t like to Wear dresses she explained. But both she and Val said they like their teacher. And Giese Felt the same Way. These kids Are excited about learn ing she said referring to All 28 Mem Bers of room 211. We be already decided to be the Best class in the school. I think we re going to live up to Handcuffs on coffin locked of sky dive Sandwich 111. A a Houdini style escape artist was thrown from an air plane in a locked coffin like Box sunday and freed himself from Handcuffs and chains before he parachuted to safety. It was fantastic said 22-year-old Anthony Martin an escape artist from Sheboygan wis. Most people thought i was going to die on this one. But the whole thing went picture Martin said that during the 25 to 30 seconds it took to free himself he did t panic. I expected to get banged around and almost killed but the Box fell very stable. And i figured that i was All Martin conceived the idea for the stunt about a year ago and enlisted the help of Roger Nelson a Champion sky diver and the program director for Skydive Sand wich a parachuting Center in Northern Illinois. He spent about three months practising getting out of the coffin and a week in july learning How to sky dive with Nelson. I would t do it myself Nelson said sunday. Told him yesterday that he could be Martin wore a Parachute and an altimeter to Mea sure the Altitude while inside the 2-by-2-by-6-foot wooden freight Box painted Bright yellow. A neck noose of padlocked chains was attached tothe top of the Box and his hands were chained to the sides of the Box with Handcuffs. The Box was close with a jail cell Type lock. At an Altitude of 13,500 feet the Box was pushed out of the plane and Nelson and an assistant jumped at the same time to stabilize it. We were just trying to keep the Box from tumbling like crazy and knocking him out Nelson said. At 7,500 feet Martin emerged from the Box and parachuted to the ground As planned in a Field owned by Farmer Howard Gast. I was pretty sure he d make it but i was nervous when he did t come out quickly said Gast who watched the stunt through binoculars. I guess he s trying to prove he s the second Houdini and it was pretty Good Harry Houdini was an american magician know for his escape acts. The stunt originally was scheduled for saturday but was postponed because of rain. About 500 people turned out to watch under sunday s Clear skies. Martin said he could t describe How he escape without revealing Trade secrets Learned since he first began doing escapes at age 10
