Students returned to classes Monday at The Bay School in the Far Rockaway section of Queens for the first time since Hurricane Sandy.

P.S./M.S. 105 had to bus its students to higher ground until their facilities could be repaired.

The circumstances were a challenge to students and administrators alike.

"It was a wonderful experience being relocated to the two sites, but there's no place like home," said Laurie Shapiro, the school's principal. "So everybody was just so happy and elated just to enter those doors this morning and be back home."

"I still studied, even though the lights were off. I had to do it in the daytime and everything. And even though I couldn't go to my volleyball practice and everything, I still practiced outside," said student Shenquail Smith.

Two pianos and boiler room equipment were among the parts of the school harmed by the storm.