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Photos:

Teresa Nowatzki reacts to winning a limo ride to the first day of sixth grade at St. Francis. Now 13, she writes: “One year, there was an event at the mall. I entered my name into the raffles, not expecting to win anything. Yet, I received a call saying that I won a limo ride to my first day of sixth grade! I rode to school with my friends feeling like a celebrity!”

Margaret Terry, who submitted this photo, writes: “This picture marks the end of summer, and the start of school, in 1962. David Sears, Mary (Sears) Melby, and Margaret (Sears) Terry are smiling, but not too happy about wearing the new and scratchy uniforms. We would have preferred an endless summer, playing with the neighborhood kids, and swimming in the local pool. Where were you in ’62? We were in Wasco, California.”

Judy Thurman, left, submitted this photo of herself, taken when she was 5. She writes: “The year was 1940. It was my first day at Central grade school (in Salem, Ill.). My teacher was known to me as ‘Aunt Myrt,’ but everyone else called her Miss Hull. She happened to be the great-aunt of a close friend and neighbor of mine. I felt very comfortable in her classroom. In the picture with my teacher (and friend Dortha Willis), I am wearing a red cotton plaid dress, which I still have (saved by my mother and found in her cedar chest). Also, I am toting a red tin lunch box with Scottie dogs printed on it.”

Siobhan O’Rourke on her first day of kindergarten in 1997. “I was attending St. John’s Lutheran School, and I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Debbie Swenson. I remember that I knew almost no one that first day because I had been in Canada when everyone else met at the open house.”

Diana McElwain writes: “These smiling faces belong to my brother, Hawk, and me on our first day of third and first grade. He was 8 and I was 5. We lived in Edgewater, Md., just across the street from the Chesapeake Bay. What a sweet life we had! Wild strawberries, lightning bugs and fishing for tadpoles. What more does a kid need?”

Lisa Sandoval, seen here in 1976, writes: “Mrs. Mullins was my teacher at Hort Elementary School. On the first day of school, Mrs. Mullins opened the bike shed to find it crawling with stink bugs. Lots of kids ran and some stayed to pick out the best ones. Me and my friend Justin, we stayed.”

Andrea Garcia, seen here in 1988, writes: “So excited to get there. My classroom had cubbies for our coats and things. Outdoors was the Bike Circle. Everyone took turns and we got to play in the sandbox. I would leave a sandcastle for my friend Stella to find. I loved school.”

Joel Gonzales, seen here in 1988, writes: “My first day at Hort was fun. I was off with the guys doing guy stuff: the Bike Circle, burying sand scoops and hunting stink bugs to chase the girls with. My cousin Andrea, who was in my class, says I got my name on the board a few times, but I don't remember!”

Ernest Andrew Garcia, seen here in 1992, writes: “The first day, I couldn't wait to get there. I got up early and got dressed. My cousin Nick was in my class and cried until his mom left. Nick will attend my wedding soon. I hope the tears won't start again.”