SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — Thousands of Jordan School District students are finally back on campus after leaving the classroom in March, and seventh graders at Mountain Creek Middle School got an extra warm welcome Monday.

This year, nearly 58,000 students opted for in-person learning, while another 11,000 chose to learn from home.

High schoolers started classes on Monday, while middle and elementary school students were scheduled to go back Tuesday.

At Mountain Creek Middle School, seventh graders were invited to come to campus a day early, since this will be a new school for the incoming class.

“Typically, we would have a back-to-school night and would have the kids and parents in the building, but we couldn’t do that this year,” said Principal Michael Glenn. “This kind of gives seventh graders a chance to be with their own group before the older students.”

Welcome back! Students across the @jordandistrict head back to campus today. At Mountian Creek Middle the Choose Kind Ambassadors are greeting first time middle-schoolers @KSL5TV #BackToSchool pic.twitter.com/4EDbTxRW48

— Ashley Moser (@AshleyMoser) August 24, 2020

School counselors said they wanted to make the students feel special by welcoming them with signs.

“Man, it has been a year for everyone, and we really wanted to come out strong,” said school counselor Becky Hunsaker. “So we have the Choose Kind Ambassadors at the entrance.”

School administrators said they are preparing to head into a year of unknowns, and they hope by starting off the year on a high note, the positivity will trickle down to the student body.

“We want to keep the kids safe, but we also want to educate them and that is a tough balance,” Glenn said. “We are here to support them, and we really want to make it a good year starting today.”