UNION SPRINGS - If most of us had our druthers, we would stay as far from middle schoolers as possible.

Middle schoolers are a breed unto themselves, with a language nearly indecipherable to adults and a style that often perplexes even the most hip grown-ups. Even if you have one of your own, they are still as mystifying as if they were aliens from another galaxy.

Wearing T-shirts with messages like "Teachers fear me" and "No need to speak up. I was ignoring you," or decked out in the latest mall fashions from Abercrombie and American Eagle, middle schoolers look like a force to be reckoned with.

But for Don Beckers, the new middle school principal at Union Springs, his pubescent charges are simply miniature adults who have a lot of learning to do.

On Wednesday at 7:30 a.m., Beckers met the 160 seventh- and eighth-graders who would be in his care for the upcoming school year. He greeted the students with enthusiasm and all the requisite energy needed to oversee 13- and 14-year-olds coursing with hormones and attitude.

Not one easily daunted by the likes of teenagers, Beckers made his way through the school day with the confidence of an old pro. He walked up to students he hadn't yet met and introduced himself, making more than a couple youngsters a bit nervous that they had already done something wrong.

"I try to draw them out. They all have something that interests them," Beckers said. "There's always something to get them with."

Most of the students eating lunch didn't give Beckers a second glance when he cruised the cafeteria for an informal lunchtime meet and greet. They were too busy trading stories of summer vacation or comparing class schedules to notice Beckers. At most tables, a lackluster response barely broke through the din of the lunchroom.

But it didn't dissuade Beckers from making the rounds. He didn't need their approval or even their attention. From his 15 years experience as a teacher and an administrator, Beckers knows it's all about the small inroads that are made over time.

Beckers breezed past tables of giggling girls pushing corn across their trays and boisterous boys exercising less than civilized table manners. The new guy in town didn't lord over the students, nor did he let them get away with everything.

One boy preferred his fingers over a fork, picking up pieces of pear and popping them in his mouth. Beckers spied the offender and playfully chided him about the proper way to eat.

"Oh...use a fork! Use a fork!," Beckers pleaded.

In addition to his lunchroom tour, Beckers was on hand in the hallways in between periods to get to know the students and lend a helping hand if necessary.

Many of the seventh-graders, new to the building, needed help finding classes or getting into their lockers.

Right before the lunch period, Beckers assisted a girl with the lock on her locker and became her hero. She didn't want to be late to lunch - it's the best period of the day.

Beckers saw another student struggling with her lock, offered assistance, but was told she had to figure it out for herself, which she did. The two then walked down to the lunchroom together, the girl chatting away about backpacks (which students are not allowed to carry during the schoolday) and lunch.

In his white dress shirt, gray trousers and wolf motif necktie, Beckers certainly looks the administrative part. But his sandy hair and blond beard hint at a softer side.

To Beckers, all students deserve to be known and heard, and from the outset, that's just what he was trying to get across.

Despite it being the first day at a new school, Beckers looked like he had been there for years.

"I feel pretty comfortable with the kids," he said.

"I feel right at home."

Staff writer Lauren Ober can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or at lauren.ober@lee.net