If you were to ask Uni High students which season it is, many would say autumn. Perhaps it is the mentality that summer ends when school starts. Officially, autumn does not begin this year until Sept. 23. That day is called the autumn equinox.

The equinox is a day when the sun is directly above the equator. On the equinox, night and day are the same lengths. For me, this is the day when autumn truly starts. Crisp air, bright leaves, pumpkins at every doorstep, these things signify for me that summer has passed and autumn has begun.

Perhaps it is like this for me because we start school so early. I never think summer is over when that first bell of the school year rings. Since temperatures continue to soar above 80 degrees, summer is not such a distant memory. In elementary school I didn’t start classes until after Labor Day. Even then, the remains of summer still hung in the air.

I think it also has something to do with the amount of work I get in school. When autumn draws near, my homework load tends to increase. It’s when I don’t have time to walk my dog outside or sit on my back porch that autumn has started.

Although I long for a nice day off in the sun at times, I’ll welcome the arrival of autumn on Sunday. Shorter days will bring spooky nights filled with shadows and mystery. Corn fields will be bare, and stores filled with Halloween candy, already for sale. Winds will begin to whistle and blow the leaves down streets in summersaults.

While school has long been in session, the first signs of autumn are just beginning to appear. Autumn stirs up thoughts of Thanksgiving and winter holidays, of a break from the black hole of school we have fallen into. Instead of longing for summer days, I begin to anticipate those breaks to come. Autumn brings me a satisfying sense of renewal.

On Sunday I will happily look to the beginning of a new season of my life as the autumn equinox takes place.