VIDALIA — As students filed through the cafeteria of Ridgecrest Elementary School Thursday afternoon, acting principal Nancy Anders kept a close eye to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Approximately 40 parents were on campus to celebrate the school Thanksgiving dinner, and Anders greeted and directed them to get in the line with their children.

Anders was appointed to the position of acting principal after principal Stephanie Blunschi took sick leave for the rest of the year late last month. She has been school administrator at Ridgecrest for the last two weeks.

Ridgecrest students range from grades one through eight.

The job has already presented her with some intangible rewards, she said.

“We took a trip to the corn maze last week, and one little girl looked up at me and said, “This is the bestest day of my life,’” Anders said.

A math teacher at Ferriday High School for six years, Anders spent three years at Ferriday Upper Elementary — where she helped write the grant for the Reading First program — before she was moved to her last post at Vidalia Lower Elementary, where she was assistant principal.

“I have taught high school and worked with elementary students, and have taught junior high students for summer school, so the age range of students doesn’t bother me,” she said.

The school has implemented some academic programs to prepare for testing, Anders said.

“The school had already ordered books for testing, and we’re working to build up reading scores,” she said.

Ridgecrest has also recently implemented a math enrichment class, Anders said.

“We want to keep pushing our students up and to get the maximum potential out of them,” she said.

Making the transition from VLE to Ridgecrest was fairly easy, Anders said.

“We have a good faculty here, and a lot of the teachers have been here for a long time,” she said.

And the teachers at VLE also helped her transition in their own special way, Anders said.

“My last day there, they all dressed in black and had a party for me,” she said. “Then, one day when I was in a meeting, they came over and rolled my office.”