A kid sits cross-legged on the carpet, the TV’s glow flickering across their face. The room is quiet, filled only with the hum of anticipation. Years later, that same glow lives behind their eyes, guiding choices they never knew it would. What once was a simple movie has quietly become part of who they are.
High school students and teachers reminisce about their childhood favorite movies and shows.
“This show is different,” freshman Na’Shonda Dawson said. “As I watched it, it showed me how to embrace myself. The characters “Gumball and Darwin” remind me of the relationship I have with my siblings.”
Librarian Elizabeth Hall shares that the first feeling a childhood movie gives is still there while growing older and rewatching.
“It’s very nostalgic to me,” Hall said. “It’s like the little girl in me that loves books and everything like it. There’s a theme song to “Reading Rainbow”, anybody who watches it knows it. It’s like the minute you hear the song, you’re five years old again.”
Freshman Jada Hudson learned things from her childhood movie, and as she gets older those things stay with her.
“My childhood movie taught me that not everything will be easy,” Hudson said. “People out there will tell you something you can’t do, but then you know you can do it. It was something powerful, so you obviously got to push through. After watching that movie, I felt like nobody could tell me anything, Princess and The Frog made me feel like I was that girl.”
The experience after watching a childhood movie could influence interests.
“There were a lot of different ways to read and enjoy books, and there were kids my age that were on it that were talking about books that they liked,” Hall said. “And there was always this book recommendation part, and it just was kind of my first introduction into sharing books and the love of reading and all that fun stuff. Reading Rainbow just kind of did that for me, and I’m excited that it’s coming back.”
A childhood movie expands your knowledge and shows different points of views.
“There were other people that liked to read, and they would highlight a lot of books about different people’s lives and experiences,” Hall said. “And I didn’t grow up in a very multicultural world. So in a lot of ways, that was where I saw those people that didn’t look like me, act like me, or lived like me. It helped broaden my perspective.”
Jordyn • Nov 1, 2025 at 8:57 pm
Beautifully written