After a restful summer, it was back to the books Thursday for students at St. Benedict School in the Bronx.

“I just woke up in a good mood,” said Natalija Ortiz, an eighth grader at the school. “I was just really ready for school. Got my hair done, everything went really smooth this morning.”

She joined her classmates as they lined up for the first day of school.

“I’m excited because I’m coming to see my friends and have fun,” said Leeya Ortiz, a fifth grader.

Madison Manning, a sixth grader, told NY1, “I’m really excited to finally get a locker this year.”

St. Benedict School is a Catholic school serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of New York, which runs from Staten Island through the Hudson Valley.

“I’m going to be strut

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