Summer fun is over, but there were still plenty of smiles Monday as Vermilion Catholic welcomed more than 180 students back to campus.

“The students came in bright and early,” Vermilion Catholic Principal Mike Guilbeaux said Monday afternoon. “They’re excited about the start of a new school year.

“We don’t always know what the school year is going to bring but we are starting it by welcoming the students with smiling faces.”

Many of those smiles were on faces new to Vermilion Catholic. More than 50 freshman began their high-school lives Monday morning.

“We have one of the largest freshmen classes that we have had in a while,” Guilbeaux said. “I think that we have maintained our feeder schools, mixed in with bringing in some students from the public school system.

“That is a good

building block to go by.”

While the classes will be full of students, VC is fully staffed with those who will be teaching those students.

“We are fully staffed and that is good,” Guilbeaux said. “Our teachers spent all of last week getting ready at workshops and doing some different things. We also had a teacher retreat last Wednesday.

“We have tweaked some things and spent a lot of time getting ready to greet the students this morning.”

Guilbeaux, who is entering his second year as VC principal, as well as his 36th year in education, said the school is offering a few new options for its students. That includes some duel-enrollment courses, which allows students to earn college credits.

“We are offering that in math and English,” Guilbeaux said. “We are looking at some other subjects for the future.

“And all of our freshmen are in Quality Core (which raises the quality and intensity of high school core courses).”

Another course is an ACT-preparation course. The school is partnering with Sylvian Learning Center to conduct the course, which is an elective offered to juniors and seniors.

“We hope this is going to be beneficial,” Guilbeaux said. “We are going to run a test to see how scores compare from those who take the class compared to those who did not take the class. We want to see if there is any growth to make sure it’s something that is beneficial.

“We’re pretty excited about that course.”

The feeling from the students is apparently mutual.

“It started out small,” Guilbeaux said. “Now we have about 36 students signed up for it.”

Like that class, Vermilion Catholic’s school year will continue to grow and take shape. Monday served as a good start.

“It’s a good beginning,” Guilbeaux said of the new school year. “The kids are all excited coming in.”