Pell Fourth-Graders Meet for Back to School Pot Luck

Photo Credit: Margo Sullivan

Photo caption: Jack Mathews, Mile Ventura, and Ben Borgueta, all 9, say they're happy to head back to classes.

Newport, RI -- As Mile Ventura figures it, there's both good and bad about going back to school on Sept. 7.

"It's good to see all my friends again," he said Monday afternoon over pizza at Miantonomni Memorial Park.

"But it's bad because--" he paused and adults at the picnic offered a list of suggestions from homework to having to get out of bed in the morning.

"Yes," he finally decided. Getting up mornings is the worst part of it.

Ben Borgueta said he was just "happy because I get to see all my friends again."

But Jack Mathews differed.

"Sad," he said. "Because I can't go back to the beach."