Warren Area Elementary Center has been open long enough that its first fourth grade class has already graduated from high school.

WAEC opened for the 2005-2006 school year. It is celebrating its 10th year.

On Thursday, every student in attendance took part in a commemorative photo event. Students were asked to wear navy blue shirts on Thursday. Those who did not were given shirts or sweatshirts of the appropriate color to wear for the event.

Teachers, administrators, and a group of parent teacher organization volunteers set up groups of students into large letters and numbers.

A photographer on the roof of the school took pictures as students spelled out words, numbers, and groups of letters that will be put together on banners and T-shirts. The final message will read: Ten years of learning at WAEC 2005 2015.

The opening of the school brought about significant changes for the Warren County School District’s central attendance area.

When it opened, five other district elementary buildings – Home Street, Jefferson Street, Market Street, North Warren, and Pleasant – closed and one, South Street, was changed from a K-5 facility to a K-1 center.

More than 700 students filled the new building’s halls and classrooms that first year.

For its first seven years, WAEC housed students in second through fifth grades. During construction at Beaty-Warren Middle School during the 2012-2013 school year, WAEC added sixth grade. WAEC became a K-5 school last year when the sixth grade returned to Beaty and the district closed South Street.

The current enrollment stands at more than 900, according to Principal Ann Ryan.

The school is holding up well and meets the needs of 21st century learners, she said.

Over the years, the school has added technology including Smartboards. With the help of its PTO, the school has seen two upgrades to its playgrounds.

The school will host a number of anniversary events throughout the year, according to Ryan.

“We’re going to do a bunch of things,” Ryan said.

Future projects include having students do a project like one done 10 years ago. “When the school opened the kids folded 1,000 origami cranes,” she said. “We’re making new cranes.”

Those will be strung together into mobiles that will be hung in the school’s lobby.

Another project will be a planting of daffodils. Parents will be asked to donate $1. Daffodils will be planted spelling out WAEC at one or two locations on the hillside in front of the school.

In honor of the efforts of the teachers, Walmart donated a cake and, through its Teacher Rewards program, contributed 20 gift cards in the amount of $50 each. The program is intended “to help offset the estimated $1,000 a year teachers spend out of their own pockets for classroom supplies.”