Students, parents and new teachers part of the Troy School System family came together at Troy Elementary to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.

Troy City Schools Superintendent Lee Hicks welcomed old and new faces during the meet and greet Tuesday afternoon, and Teresa Sims, Troy Elementary School principal, said it was wonderful to have so many new faces gathered together Tuesday for the start of a new year.

“We are very excited about our new team members, teachers, support staff and administration,” Sims said. “We’re going to have a great year. We’re just looking forward to getting them acclimated to the community, to the school and to the parents. We just want everybody to feel a part of the team and a part of the school family, because that’s how we look at it. We have some great new hires, some high quality people coming in to work with our kids.”

Parker Reiss, a new fifth grade science, math and social studies teacher at TES, said he was looking forward to the start of a new school year and coming home to the school where he had done his internship.

“I interned here last fall before I graduated, so I’m most excited about coming back to the school I interned at,” Reiss said. “I absolutely fell in love with Troy Elementary, and it made me love the City of Troy even more by being a part of the school system. Once I graduated, I went and taught in Greenville at the middle school, and my wife works at the university, so I was driving back and forth everyday. I’m probably most excited about being back in Troy, and teaching in the community that you live in is just really special, I think.”

Now that teachers have their classrooms set up, ready for students to take their places the first day of school, which will be Aug. 12, Mary Britton Hicks said she was sad the summer was coming to an end.

“I’m going to miss going to the beach,” Mary Britton said.

But, Mary Britton said she was excited for the long-awaited end-of-the-year sixth grade field trip, which is much better than the end-of-the-year field trips for fifth graders.

“I’m excited about meeting my teachers,” Mary Britton said. “I really like reading. I’m excited about coming back and seeing my friends, and I’m excited to go to the middle school next year. Last year we went to Golf World for the end-of-the-year field trip, and the sixth graders went to the Georgia Aquarium, so I’m excited about all the field trips.”