CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Owen Gilfert, a Whitehall-Coplay Middle School eighth-grade student, is ready for a new academic year to start. The first day of classes in Whitehall-Coplay School District was Aug. 28.

Madison Fehnel heads off to ninth grade for the first day of the 2023-24 school year. Madison attends Whitehall High School.

Emma Stepp, in seventh grade at WCMS, and Bradley (Buddy) Stepp Jr., in fifth grade at Zephyr Elementary School, mark the first-day occasion with a family photo.

Second-grader Isabella Seibert is all smiles as she is about to begin a new grade. Isabella attends Steckel Elementary School.