Just as an adolescent is slow to rise from bed in the morning, so Teachers' Memorial Middle School in Norwich is slow to come to life.

But unlike most students, who hit the snooze button a couple of times for those extra five, 10, 15 minutes of sleep, there is no time to waste at Teachers Memorial.

Sleeping in simply is not an option. There is a dynamic, an unspoken formula that is carried day in and day out with one goal in mind - getting the school ready for the children.

The first part of the equation starts just before 6 a.m., when custodian Mike Gibson makes his way through the darkness to unlock the front door.

"It's pitch black," says Gibson. "You're feeling your way in the door."

He winds his way through each of the school's three levels, heading to strategically placed light switches, inserting a key into a slot. With a flick of his wrist, there is light.

Shortly after light comes sustenance. In the cafeteria there is an echo of aluminum foil in the air. Refrigerator doors are open and shut.

Inside the kitchen, Debbie Vinyard is prepping the breakfast that will provide enough energy to wake the sleepy heads from their slumber.

She warms the bagels, prepares breakfast sausage pizza and sets out 54 Jump Starts boxed breakfasts - a favorite breakfast that only the middle schools get.

Vinyard is proud to provide the students this exclusive nourishment because, "They deserve special things once in a while."

Her menu options are craftily selected. She balances nutrition with taste.

"I try to give them stuff they like so I know they'll eat," she says.

The bureaucracy begins to roll when Principal William Peckham arrives at 6:45 a.m. Even after more than 20 years in the job, he's alert and filled with energy (unlike some of the students who will start arriving an hour later with dazed expressions on their faces).

"The kids are always exciting," says Peckham. "They're fun to be around. Nothing is ever boring. Every day is different."

Sometime after 7 a.m., the pace of the school starts to pick up. Cars gradually fill the parking lot. Footsteps in the hallways can be faintly heard as teachers start making their way in.

There is light outside, finally matching the illuminated rooms. Birds chirp. Students who walk to school start to converge on the front door around 7:30.

The momentum is gradually building. It nears its pinnacle at 7:45 a.m., when the buses start to roll in.

The noise level outside starts to increase as the motors rumble and the students' voices can be heard through the buses' windows.

Once the school bus doors are opened, some students scramble to get in the cafeteria to get their breakfast while others go to their lockers and homeroom.

The cacophony has reached its climax. The school is wide awake.

Inside the classrooms students alternate between eating their breakfasts and watching the television where morning announcements are read by student journalists from the School Community Outreach for Excellence program.

At 8:20 a.m., the trickle of students into the hallways from homeroom quickly turns into a deluge.

They seem to be performing an orchestrated dance, bobbing and weaving in the crowd as they head to their first-period class.

And just as quickly as the noise envelops the hallways, it falls silent again, as corridors empty and classrooms fill.

There is learning to be done.