As the final bells of the school year rang on Wednesday, June 24, children rushed outside into the summer sun to begin nearly three months of vacation. Some students stopped to say ‘goodbye’ to friends and teachers, and sign yearbooks. Others rushed off to idle away a lazy afternoon.

Students were looking forward to a variety of different summer plans — travel, work, camp, sports or just hanging out with friends.

It was also the last day of the first year at Twin Falls Middle School in North Bend.

Clutching her yearbook, Samantha Burgess said she was excited for summer.

“I get to go down to the coast to see my grandparents,” she said.

Dana Fowler-Lindner and other teachers stood on the sidewalk and waved farewell to the buses.

“It was our first year … A lot of energy started over a year ago. It’s a big deal; that first year is a daily first,” she said.

It was a bittersweet day at Snoqualmie’s Cascade View Elementary School. The school’s first principal, Tim Nootenboom, leaves June 30 to take over the Spokane school district’s elementary education program.

Outside the main office, Nootenboom crouched down on one knee to hug the steady stream of students saying their ‘goodbyes’ to the only principal many had ever known.

The first day CVES opened, he recalled, “I stood up and got to greet the kids and parents. There was an energy there, and we’ve been able to ride that out since then. That energy is still there.”