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EDWARDSBURG — Class is back in session for students at Edwardsburg Public Schools.

Tuesday, Edwardsburg students returned for the 2021-2022 school year. At Edwardsburg High School, the cafeteria was abuzz as classmates and friends reunited after a long summer apart.

“It’s going really good, honestly,” said High School Principal Ryan Markel of the first day of school. “We’ve got such great kids. While it doesn’t feel like the middle of the year yet, kids are getting their schedules, and things are going incredibly smoothly.”

Markel is grateful for the smooth day, especially after the challenging 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday, he said the first day of school felt very different than last year’s first day.

“The kids are much more relaxed,” Markel said. “Masks are optional, so if they want to wear masks they can, and we have scaled back some of the extra protocols we took last year. I think the kids don’t feel as tense.”

With the 2021-2022 school year underway, Markel said he hopes it is a successful one for Edwardsburg High School students and the EPS district as a whole.

“I always want to do well on our test scores,” he said. “We want to do better than we did last year, and we want to do better in our fine arts and band and athletics. We always want to keep striving to do better.”

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