Marshall County Back 2 School Fun Fair celebrates 25 years | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

MOUNDSVILLE — The Marshall County Back 2 School Fun Fair celebrated 25 years of getting ready mother and father and college students for the approaching college 12 months Wednesday.

A line of fogeys and college students keen to choose up college provides snaked across the West Virginia Penitentiary, with the truthful serving greater than 1,200 college students within the county.

Attendees navigated by tables stuffed with free college provides for them to choose up. In addition to backpacks, notebooks and pencils, toiletries and nonperishable meals gadgets have been additionally accessible for college kids.

After filling up their backpack with provides, mother and father and college students might go to over 50 native companies with assets and data on the truthful. Agencies represented on the truthful included Youth Services System, Northwood Health Systems and Harmony House.

In collaboration with the Marshall County Health Department, the FRN & Family Support Center carried out dental checks and handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste and neighborhood assets. Free coupons for haircuts have been additionally accessible to college students to choose up.

MCS Parent Educator Susie Baker, who organizes the truthful, famous that whereas the varsity provides have been what received mother and father and college students within the door, the “true purpose” of the truthful was to attach households with the assets they could want.

“Everybody gots a hand up, not a handout, so that all students can start on the same page for the school year,” Baker mentioned.

Another manner college students have been in a position to get on the identical web page as their classmates on the truthful was the addition of a registration desk for college kids who weren’t but enrolled within the college system. Another new element of the truthful was a “Meet the Bus Driver” space, the place college students might obtain their bus quantity and meet their bus driver.

“The ‘Meet the Bus Driver’ is a great idea because on the first day of school, the first 10 to 20 phone calls the secretaries get are parents asking, ‘What bus is my child riding? What corner do they get picked up on?”’ Baker mentioned.

MCS Superintendent Shelby Haines mentioned having the ability to “catch” college students who nonetheless wanted to be enrolled and giving college students the chance to satisfy their bus drivers helped make the primary day of faculty much less tense for households. She added that one other advantage of the truthful was that college students have been in a position to meet previous academics and be launched to new ones.

“We have some families that are new to the county, so we want to make that transition into school here easy for everybody,” Haines mentioned. “We have three board members and most of the county office here, along with a lot of principals because we just want to welcome everybody to Marshall County.”

McNinch Primary School Mental Health Coordinator Tara Ann Thompson mentioned attending the truthful for the previous 4 years has helped her turn out to be a pleasant face for college kids earlier than they meet her within the college hallways.

“My first year attending the fair definitely helped me become a familiar face for the kids, even though I hadn’t even started at my position,” Thompson mentioned. “It’s a great way for the kids to meet me, so when they see me in school, they know that I’m not some random person and that I’m here to help.”

Thompson was passing out pencil circumstances with different YSS staff who function Mental Health Coordinators at colleges in Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock counties. She famous the truthful allowed them to tell mother and father about their function throughout the colleges and supply households with data and assets about social and emotional studying for college kids.

“As mental health coordinators, we help with social and emotional learning in the schools and support the kids however we can,” Thompson mentioned. “Since we have mental health coordinators at two schools in the county, we’re here to see our kids and provide them with some supplies while we’re at it.”

Central Elementary School pupil Ethan Rosier, who attended the truthful along with his mom, Alexander, and brother Travis, was excited to satisfy his principal on the truthful. Ethan and Travis have been additionally keen to indicate off their new backpacks that have been embellished with online game controllers and sharks, respectively.

Alexander Rosier mentioned her sons beloved to return to the truthful yearly, including that their favourite half was selecting out their e book luggage and different provides.

“The back-to-school fair is a good thing for the kids,” Rosier mentioned. “They get pretty excited to show off their backpacks. It also helps me worry less about having to get their supplies as a parent.”

Haines mentioned that permitting the scholars to choose what sort of backpack and coloration pocket book they needed allowed college students to have the identical expertise as different households who go back-to-school procuring.

“One of Susie’s big things is that she doesn’t want anybody to stand out,” Haines mentioned. “We’ve had people willing to donate backpacks, but they have their emblem on the side, and Susie says, ‘Absolutely not, I don’t want anybody to know that this was a free backpack.’ Just because it’s free doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t get the same experience as other kids who get to shop at Walmart and pick out whatever color notebook they want.”

Haines thanked Baker, MCS staff and the opposite volunteers who helped make the truthful potential. She added that, because of their efforts and neighborhood help, the occasion has gotten larger and larger yearly.

“Susie was afraid during the first fun fair that no one would show up,” Haines recalled. “Now we’ve got virtually three-fourths of county enrollment attending. People began lining up at 6 p.m. final evening, which is simply chilling.

“We’re very blessed to have Susie in our county because this is her dream, and we’re happy to help make it happen,” Haines continued.

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