BRANDYWINE — Principal Austin Theobald took the cell phone from the mom, spun it around and snapped a picture of the woman and her child standing in front of Brandywine Elementary School.

The mom was dropping off her child for the first day of school and even though it meant the end of summer vacation, everyone, including the incoming student, was all smiles.

“Say ‘Bulldogs,’” Theobald said before snapping the keepsake photo for the family.

The first day of classes in the Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County got off to a good start for all of the district’s six schools — New Palestine High School, New Palestine Junior High, New Palestine Intermediate, New Palestine Elementary, Sugar Creek Elementary and Brandywine Elementary — district officials said.

For Theobald, entering his fourth year as the principal of Brandywine Elementary School, he’s hoping for the best year yet.

“I absolutely love it here,” he said. “We have such a great staff and community.”

The school has grown by 45 students this year, making for a total of 332 kids attending. In addition to more students, school officials also welcomed in three new educators and two new special education teachers. While front office staff and teachers bustled about the building waiting for students to arrive, Theobald, with a cup of coffee in hand said he too was excited for another year.

“Our theme this year is gratitude,” Theobald said. “Gratitude is attitude; we want to build kids up.”

While Theobald and his staff waited patiently for the buses, which were running a tad late on the first day to arrive, students from the before-school YMCA program were already in the cafeteria eagerly looking forward to the first day.

Their principal took the time to welcome all the children already in the cafeteria back to school and told them it was going to be a great year.

“Hey, I really like that new haircut,” Theobald told a returning student who had added a little color to the top of his hair. “We’re all just so excited and ready to get started.”

Superintendent Lisa Lantrip was also looking forward to the new school year and said she, administrators, teachers and staff were excited for a great year at Southern Hancock.

Lantrip noted the first day of classes is always fun, but it is also a time when their transportation department gets its first opportunity to go on its bus runs and iron routes out.

“Our transportation team did an incredible job this morning getting students to our schools,” Lantrip said. “Every first day has its challenges with buses and car lines, but our team is handling the day with grace and patience.”

Lantrip noted the first day of school is always a great day because “teachers are teaching and our students are learning.”

As the buses pulled up in front of the Brandywine Elementary School and parents lined up in the car line to drop students off, a school resource officer kept a watchful eye on the happenings as another school year officially started with plenty of optimism. Kids were giggling, deep in conversations and showed genuine excitement as they unloaded from the buses and made their way into the school and on into their classrooms.

Wes Anderson, the district’s community relations director, was making the rounds to all the district’s schools the first day with a video camera in hand. He was capturing the sights and sounds of the first day and planned to created a video for district families to enjoy on their social media sites.

“We’re glad to get things going,” Anderson said. “Our enrollment numbers are up, but we won’t know for sure how much until the official count day coming later.”

He noted they signed up eight new students just one day before classes started when schools held open houses for students to meet their teachers and find their classrooms Monday evening.