MATTAPOISETT — The first day of school can be nerve-inducing. Especially so, when that first day is at a new school, in a new building and, for some in the Old Rochester Regional school district, in a new town.

An open house on the eve of the Wednesday, Aug. 28 first day at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School aimed to alleviate some of that academic anxiety for students transitioning into the school.

The junior high building opened Tuesday, Aug. 27 — the night before the school year began — to seventh grade students and parents, according to Principal Silas Coellner.

Coellner was concerned about “getting the jitters out of the first day,” he said Thursday, Sept. 5 at an Old Rochester Regional School Committee meeting.

“It was really great to see parents and guardians with their kids walk around the building, showing them around,” Coellner said. “This is where your homeroom is going to be. This is where your team is.”

Director of guidance Lauren Millette said letting students see the junior high building before “the busyness” of the first day of the first day of school “was really helpful.”

“A lot of the kids talked about how they were less nervous because they had that last look the night before,” she said. “They knew where they were going to be.”

The open house was termed a “meet and treat,” as an Oxford Creamery food truck stationed outside the school during the evening event. The cart served 228 free ice creams, according to Coellner.

He said there was positive feedback from parents and students, and the “climate” inside the junior high building was “the most positive” during the first week of school he could “remember in a long time.”

“I think it really did have a social, emotional positive impact on the kids,” Coellner said.