Starting the school year with prayer

Second-grade students follow their teacher to class after the opening Mass.

Regan Whlar (left) a first-grader at St. Andrew, holds hands with her little sister Brenna, 2, before the opening Mass Aug. 31. Little sister Harper, 4, clings to her mother, Shannon.

Students and their parents gather for an opening Mass to kick off the school year at St. Andrew the Apostle School in Clifton. It’s a school tradition for families to attend the Mass together before the students go with their teachers to the first class.