First Day Jitters and Joy in Green Brook

A trio of elementary students waiting for a bus offered a full gamut of emotions about the forst day of school: third-grader Jackson Gottlick wasn't too happy about ending his summer vacation; second-grader Edward Wright wasn't "too glad" either but ready to go...and first-grader Ella Stevinson was excited.

Those views were likely echoed across the township this morning, as Green Brook's approximately 950 students began the 2012-2013 school year. Despite threatening weather forecasts, the day began warm and wet but without rain, making it easier for students to anxiously await school buses.

Twins Aria and Leah Anthony waited to be picked up at a stop on Greenbrook Road, both excited to begin the first grade. Aria said she was looking forward to meeting new friends, even though this year marks the first year the sisters will be separated in different classes.

Mom Patty Anthony was a little wistful on the occasion of her youngest kids heading to first grade. "It's sad...but it's exciting," she said. 

Back on Jefferson Avenue, Ella Stevinson's mom Jill watched Ella happily board the school bus and head off to . She recalled the same scene a year earlier, when Ella first went to kindergarten.

"Kindergarten was rough," she said. "At least for the first grade there wasn't any crying."

Once at the school, teachers collected their charges, with staff members and bus drivers helping the youngest students get in line to be sure they were headed to the right classes.

Parents watched as their kids went into the school, snapping pictures and waving goodbyes.

Parent Hung Liu dropped his two children, Tomy and Grace, off at the bus stop, then raced ahead to greet them as they came off the bus at the school.

"I just wanted to be here," he said. "Just for the first day."