ANACORTES — The last day of class at Anacortes Middle School was met with reflection and disco music.

Wednesday was the district’s last school day, making the Anacortes School District the last in Skagit County to adjourn for the summer.

Molly Strohschein’s seventh-grade students spent the first part of the morning talking about the past 179 classroom days.

“You guys have been really, really wonderful throughout the year,” Strohschein told her students.

She made a DVD for her students, which chronicled their accomplishments throughout the year.

“I wouldn’t have spent the time doing that if I wasn’t really...” she paused to compose herself. “If I didn’t really care about you.”

Students signed yearbooks for the last half of the laid-back last class. Strohschein played the Bee Gee’s “Saturday Night Fever” and signed many yearbooks for her 25 students.

“Middle school is hard,” Indica Weller, 13, said while giggling. “High school’s going to be even harder, so I’m kind of dreading that. I thought (middle school) was going to be easier, but I had homework for seven different classes.”

Seventh-graders had the run of the halls Wednesday. Eighth-graders had their promotion ceremony the day before and were excused from class. Michaela Hebert, 13, said she looks forward to being an eighth-grader next year.

“I’m totally going to boss the sevenths around,” she said. “It’s going to be so much fun.”

A gathering of about five girls chattered excitedly about their summer plans: travel, summer camp, camping, sleeping in and hanging out with friends. For the most part, their summer is free from the confines of a rigorous middle school schedule and free from many adults during the day.

“They’re old enough to have free time, and they don’t have to be supervised constantly,” said John Cooper, who came to the school to watch his daughter, Emma, perform in a talent show.

But her freedom doesn’t come without worry, he said.

“You need to know who they’re hanging out with, and you need to know if the other parents are aware of who is where and when,” he said as his wife, Sandra, nodded in agreement.

Strohschein helped emcee the talent show, and in a break before the start, she spoke quickly about the middle schoolers.

“At this age, they go through so much, so I learn so much about them,” she said. “It’s also a bit scary because there’s anticipation and concern about what kind of students I’ll get next year.”

They’d better like disco. Strohschein encourages students to dance during Disco Fridays, she said, though few students this year took her up on the offer.

Strohschein took the stage, and while a student prepared an electric guitar for his performance, she asked students the furthest place they are traveling to this summer.

Several said Japan. Others said Europe. Another student was too quiet for her to hear.

“What’s that? You’re going to Funkytown?” she asked. “Won’t you take me to Funkytown?”

The adults groaned. Her student laughed, but the rest of the seventh-graders didn’t seem to get it.

Strohschein said she looks forward to the break because it gives her needed time off from grading.

“I spend a lot of time outside the school day working like a lot of teachers do,” she said. “I have a toddler and a husband, and I like to spend time with them.”

She’s also going to teach a class of Japanese students about American culture.

And maybe a little about disco, too.

• Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .