ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Wednesday marks the first day of school for thousands of children across the region. You can see when your child’s district will begin its first day here.

News10NBC TODAY was live from Greece Odyssey and Eugenio Maria de Hostos Charter School as teachers and staff welcomed back students after months of summer vacation.

EMHCS is the longest-standing charter school in Rochester. John Harris, the chief operating officer of EMHCS, said he’s excited about how the school’s upcoming expansion project will benefit students. Construction will begin next month on the project which includes a gym for Section V athletes, a freshman academy, and a new 10th through 12th grade campus. Harris said the project has been in the works for two years and could take two more years to complete.

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve been in the community for 25 years and so, to have our own facility where our student athletes can compete against other schools, it’s really exciting for us,” Harris said.

Sebrone Johnson, the CEO of EDceptional which supports Rochester’s charter schools, explained that a charter school is a public school that the family gets to choose. There are 14 charter schools with 27 locations in the Rochester area. You can learn about enrolling your child in a charter school at GoodSchoolsRoc.

Johnson said charter schools are laser-focusing on literacy this year.

“I say all that time that we can do a lot of things after they learn to read but we can’t do anything before they learn to read,” he said.

In the Greece Central School District, Kathleen Graupman is starting her last year as the superintendent. She will retire in January and has has a transition plan in place to pass her duties on to the current deputy superintendent who she’s worked with for almost 20 years.

Graupman said she loves the energy on the first day of school with seeing new and familiar faces.

“The first day of school is always incredibly exciting. It has been for my entire career for 32 years. Best day of the year,” she said.

Incoming superintendent Jeremy Smalline said he’s excited to collaborate with students, their families, and teachers now and after he takes over as the superintendent in January.

“I’m really excited to see kids back in the classroom, engaged with their teachers and in their learning. You always have jitters but you’re excited for what’s to come and have your expectations,” he said.

News10NBC spoke with two members of the Odyssey Academy marching band, sophomore Kenneth and seventh grader Conor, about their excitement for the new school year. They’re playing a show this fall with theme “What is light?”, about how light impacts us.