In less than one week, Cherokee County students and teachers will be back in the classroom, fresh off summer vacation.

The first day of school always brings a certain amount of excitement to it, even though most students will tell you they'd rather stay on vacation.

Back in my day, it seemed like summer vacation lasted a long, long time. As the years go by, the time between the last day of school and the first goes by faster and faster. A recent high school graduate explained that phenomenon to me during a conversation a few days ago.

"Time goes by quicker for old people," he told me. Old people! Was he insinuating that I'm old? I'm guessing he was and in the eyes of most teens I probably am. I know that when I was 18, someone 58 years old was ancient.

Enough about time and age. Inside today's paper you'll find a special section on "Back-to- School."

It's very well done, even if I say so myself. And I can brag on it, because I had nothing to do with it.

Our education reporter Scott Powell wrote most of the articles, Joe Hughes did the editorial design and layout and Larry 'Moose' Littlejohn designed and produced the ads sold by Eddie Coggins, Andy Clary and Robert Martin, who also did the cover design and photography. The production guys — Alex Ruppe, Terry Smith, Josh Jefferies and Eric Towery — did an outstanding job in the printing of this section, too.

Even if you don't have children in school, I think you will enjoy reading some of the stories included in this section.

Also in today's Ledger is an article about small newspapers and how they are holding up during the recession and the general decline of the newspaper industry.

Since The Gaffney Ledger is a small newspaper, I found this story very interesting and since so many of you ask me how we're doing, I thought it would be an interesting read for our subscribers.

The perception is that the newspaper industry is dying, mainly because some larger dailies have shut down and others are cutting costs in dramatic fashion. The Internet is killing newspapers, many of you believe. It has hurt the larger papers, but not so much us small fish. Read the story on page 5B to get a better idea on the state of small newspapers.

The Gaffney Ledger has been publishing the news of Cherokee County since 1894 — technically 1897 since that's when the county was formed — and will continue doing so for a long time to come. There will be changes for sure, but in one form or another, this newspaper will be around.

Switching to back to school, last week my Dad gave me a 1942-43 University of South Carolina Freshman Handbook. He found it in an antique store in Columbia he visits quite often. Dad was particularly interested in this handbook because he was student body president that year and his picture is in it.

Thumbing through it over the past several days, it was evident that though some things have changed dramatically, some things are pretty much the same. In 1942, students were forbidden to have or keep deadly weapons on campus. I think the same probably holds true today. Intoxicating beverages were forbidden on campus, fraternity houses or at any gathering of students. I believe that rule is also in effect today.

The biggest difference I saw was in the cost to attend USC. "A student can attend the University on an average from $400 to $550 per year," the handbook states. That included room and board, books, laundry and incidentals.

Today, those costs run around $18,000, not including laundry.

'The Gamecock' is still the student newspaper and 'The Garnet and Black' is the yearbook. Dormitory rules were much stricter in 1942 than they are now, especially for girls, who had to be in the dorm by 11 p.m and could not go out before 7 a.m. If a girl went out after dark, she had to sign out and sign back in.

In the back of the handbook are some of the cheers used to urge the Gamecocks on to victory!

Rickety, Rickety, Rickety, Rack, Clickety, Clickety, Clickety, Clack, Garnet and Black! Garnet and Black!

Boom Ray! Boom Ray! South Carolina!

With cheers like that, I don't understand why the Gamecocks haven't won more games.

Which brings me to the reason I get excited when a new school year begins: Football season is only a few weeks away.

S.C. Rah! Hah! S.C. Rah! Hah! Hoo-oh! Hoo-Rah!

South Carolina!

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.