Enthusiasm ruled the day Tuesday as students across Metro Richmond headed to class for the start of a new school year. At the newly named Obama Elementary School in North Side, Ruth R. Little, a retired teacher from the Fendall Avenue school, greets students with pencils as they arrive, while fourth-grader Adonis Pringle, 9, awaits the doors opening for the first time.

Jaden Hanes, 4, gets a shape up Monday from barber Golden Shelton at Cedar Street Baptist Church of God’s Barber & Beauty Day. Barbers and beauticians donated their time and talents to help youngsters look good for the first day of school. Jayla Bethune, 9, tries on a pair of new sneakers at George Wythe High School on Monday at the 13th Annual Labor Day New Shoes for Back to School. The program, started as a women’s ministry at Third Street Bethel A.M.E. Church in Jackson Ward, has grown to include 16 churches and a synagogue, who work to provide more than 4,000 pairs of shoes to area youngsters. Parents escort their children to Obama Elementary on the first day, while Richmond schools Superintendent Jason Kamras welcomes first-grader Karlaija Lewis, 6, to the school.