For the past five years, Laurel Park Elementary School Principal Dr. Eric Snell has gathered the same group of students together for a class photo – one taken each year since they entered first grade.

Now, as the students prepare to graduate fifth grade, the tradition has come full circle. The photos line up like a time capsule, documenting the children’s growth alongside their principal, who will retire at the end of this school year.

“I wanted to do something special when I left, and I knew that I needed a plan for when I retired from Brentwood because it's been such a big part of my life,” he said. “I wanted to kind of track the development of them from first grade to fifth grade and just have that memory forever.”

The series of photos shows how far the students have come since that very first picture – a reminder, Snell said, of the importance of marking moments and milestones in education.

Though Snell’s retirement adds special significance to this year’s photo, the tradition itself will remain a highlight for the 2026 fifth-grade graduating class and their families, who now have a rare collection of snapshots capturing the passage of time.

“Brentwood is a phenomenal school district, and through this current Board of Education and leadership, I see greatness down the horizon,” Snell said. “I'm very proud of this community and what they've done for my life for the past 30 years.”