The crisp bite of Autumn air and a bright morning sun greeted both new and returning students on Tuesday for the first day of class at the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical Highschool in Rochester.

Freshmen stepped off their town buses and merged together in the cafeteria where Superintendent Gary Brown greeted them and gave the students a summary of what to expect for their freshman year. Brown dispensed plenty of advice on how to succeed and get the best experience from their learning career at Old Colony while warning them that the world outside of school is growing bigger and more connected.

"Students who, after completing their educations, go on to seek jobs in their learned trade may get opportunities to work all over the country, or even all over the world," said Brown.

Brown explained that jobs in today's world are very competitive but with hard work success is assured.

As the freshmen were being given the run-down of what to expect at Old Colony, hallways and classrooms buzzed with excited sophomore, junior and senior students. Plenty of students greeted each other with warm and energetic smiles, filling in fellow classmates on how they spent their summer vacations.

Two eager freshmen, Jarred Boucher and Miguel Sevasin, were excited to start at Old Colony and chose the school because of its focus on trade skills.

For returning students,  this year brings a few new changes to the interior of the school like new carpet and new desks for classrooms. Students also have the opportunity to use new equipment like the new netbooks and laptops that were purchased with the school's grant money.

A couple of technological additions to the vocational shops have been added as well, like new touch screen computers for the Computer Information Systems shop, a new Computer Numerical Controlled milling machine for the Machine and Tool shop, and a brand new Xerox machine for the Graphic Communications and Design shop.

The Xerox machine will create more job opportunities for students in the shop according to Paul Sleight, a Graphic Communications and Design teacher in the shop. Previously, students were using an outdated traditional press, limited to certain colors and unable to print the amount of pieces the new machine can.

Staff and students seemed excited to be back at school to begin the new year and, in the seniors' case, finally finish their education and become adults.

But what excited Sevasin the most about the new year was football.

"Go Cougars!" he said, wearing his football jersey.

Killian McAssey is a senior at Old Colony. He lives in Rochester.