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Oak Mountain Elementary School teacher Shannon Mills, right, welcomes students to her first-grade class on Thursday, Aug. 11. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

Oak Mountain Elementary School teacher Shannon Mills, right, welcomes students to her first-grade class on Thursday, Aug. 11. (Special to the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By EMILY SPARACINO | Staff Writer 

NORTH SHELBY – When students arrived at Oak Mountain Elementary School on the morning of Thursday, Aug. 11, they saw big smiles on the faces of faculty members they had not seen since the end of the previous school year.

“I’ve missed you so much,” OMES counselor Hayden Belisle said to a student as she walked through the front doors of the school. “You’ve gotten taller.”

Belisle and her colleagues, including OMES principal Jan Curtis, welcomed many of their students back to campus on Aug. 11, the first day of the Shelby County School System’s staggered start to the 2022-2023 school year.

“We have had wonderful days preparing, so we’re just ready to get started,” Curtis said.

Third-grade student Anders Colquitt said she read many books over the summer, and she is excited about reading more books this year.

First-grade student Emma Higginbotham said she is looking forward to playing on the playground.

One of her classmates, Henley Boyd, said she is new to OMES.

One of their other classmates, Cooper Anderson, said he is excited to take piano lessons this year.

Curtis, who has served as the OMES principal since in January 2021, said she expects the new school year to be great for the students and staff, especially with the momentum from a smooth start.

“We had a wonderful first day today,” Curtis said. “Our students came in with the biggest smiles, and our teachers greeted them with so much excitement. We know that this is going to be an incredible year at Oak Mountain Elementary School.”

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