The back-to-school buzz kicks off for SEMO, area students

Thousands of young adults will populate our city once again this week as they move into dorms and apartments to attend Southeast Missouri State University.

The students bring a lot of energy to our city. We welcome them, as well as their optimism as they continue their educational journey here in Cape Girardeau. They also help our local economy by shopping at our stores, eating at our restaurants and filling up at our gas stations.

Be aware of the buzz around the university in the next few days as students settle in. This may mean some small traffic delays near the university at times.

Speaking of awareness, our local K-12 schools begin this week and next. By now, hopefully, parents have already purchased the supplies and teachers have their classrooms ready to go. We hope the students enter their school years excited about learning.

Please be careful while driving in school zones, and watch out for those little ones.

Good luck to all of the students, teachers and parents as we kick off another year of education in Southeast Missouri.