Hundreds of Mountain View kids went back to school Wednesday, welcomed by waiting teachers and messages scribbled in chalk outside neighborhood schools. 

High school classes started first. Then around 7:30 a.m., preteens toting backpacks began making their trek to Clark Middle School, passing through quiet residential streets and navigating intersections busy with early morning traffic. Students at Tyson Elementary and Mountain View Elementary School began the day at 9 a.m.

A teacher from Mountain View Elementary School writes messages to returning students the day before classes begin

Did you know…

About one third of the people who live in Mountain View are 17 years old or younger, according to the most recent available estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. That makes Mountain View one of the youngest neighborhoods in Anchorage.

While the average Anchorage resident is almost 33 years old, the average Mountain View resident is 27. As far as neighborhoods go, only parts of Russian Jack, Muldoon and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson have populations that are younger.