On her second trip to the school on a very busy Wednesday morning last week, Alicia Spencer’s enthusiasm for the first day of school was still strong, and actually, getting stronger.

Earlier in the day, she’d dropped off her son, Jordan at Timber Ridge Elementary School for his first day of fourth grade. When he said he wanted to ride his bike home, she made another trip to bring him his bike, and was planning to come back again at the end of the school day, to ride home together with him.

“I’m excited to ride bikes with him home from school,” she said as she unloaded Jordan’s bike from her car. “It’s nice to have the school so close.”

Spencer, the school and many of its students are all new to the neighborhood, but then so is the neighborhood. The school is surrounded by new home construction projects on Snoqualmie Ridge.

As students and parents filed into the new building, they noticed a few works in progress — an empty patch of dirt waiting to be planted, a pile of rocks to be moved, some construction equipment on hand for final exterior work — but inside, staff said, the building is perfect.

To commemorate the opening of the district’s sixth elementary school, Principal Amy Wright led a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with help from the Snoqualmie Valley School Board and staff, as well as Mount Si High School film students who recorded the event.

Wright, speaking to her entire school’s worth of students plus dozens of parents, asked the group what they thought of the building and was answered with loud applause. She thanked the school administration, school board, Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson and Public Works Director Dan Marcinko, who both attended, and the many members of the PTSA organization who helped launch the new school.

“Give yourselves a pat on the back,” she told them all.

Community members are invited to an open house 6:30 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 8, at the new school to tour the facilities.

Wright’s move to Timber Ridge left a gap in the principal’s office at Opstad Elementary, which former assistant principal Ryan Hill has been chosen to fill.

As students leaped off buses and greeted their friends at Opstad on Aug. 31, Hill talked about the year ahead.

“There is just a lot of excitement the first day. Teachers and office staff have been preparing for weeks for this first day,” Hill said. “Our focus is setting the kids up for success. Giving them lots of opportunities for success, especially on the first few days to build their confidence and get them off to a good start.”

Hill, along with instructional assistants, helped direct students arriving at the school to their classrooms.

“We have instructional assistants out helping direct students getting them to where they need to be,” he said. “Especially for the kids that are here for the first time and nervous, just not knowing where to go.”