<h4>By BOB SOFALY</h4>
The first day at a new job is often difficult, full of anxiety and fear of the unknown.

For Port Royal Elementary School’s Mahogany Bethea, 23, her entire career started with 16 sets of first-grade eyes staring back at her as if to say, “teach me, we dare ya!”

School started for all Beaufort County School District students Monday, Aug. 19. Bethea, a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Early Childhood Development program, said she was as ready as she was going to get.

“I have two sisters and a brother who are all younger than me,” she said as she counted out crayons into little plastic boxes. “I just have to figure out (her students’) personalities and how they will relate to me.”

Bethea admitted that she has one fear.

“What if I’m not able to connect with them?” she said.

Ready or not, Bethea hopes to mold them into good citizens and get them ready for the second grade.

“I don’t have any preconceived ideas of what to expect,” she said. “But I am really looking forward to helping them learn.”<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>