FOUNTAIN HILL, Pa. — The backpacks were crammed with crayons, pencils, erasers, rulers, notebooks, magnets, glue sticks, folders, a story book, an activity book and a folder titled, “The Night Before Kindergarten.”
The teachers and staff who on Friday morning delivered free backpacks to the homes of incoming kindergarteners provided one additional thing, perhaps the most important thing.
Welcoming smiles.
“Going to kindergarten can be a little scary for some children. This program allows us to go into the community, to the homes of the children, and introduce ourselves to say how excited we are to have them come to school.”Fountain Hill Elementary School Principal Courtney W-Stambaugh
“This gives the teachers and staff at Fountain Hill Elementary and Donegan Elementary a chance to meet the children coming to kindergarten before school begins,” Fountain Hill Elementary School Principal Courtney W-Stambaugh said.
She talked as she and two teachers toted backpacks throughout the neighborhood.
“Going to kindergarten can be a little scary for some children," W-Stambaugh said.
"This program allows us to go into the community, to the homes of the children, and introduce ourselves to say how excited we are to have them come to school.”
More beneficiaries
Kindergarteners were not the only beneficiaries of free backpacks.
Broughal Middle School teachers and staff delivered backpacks to the homes of incoming sixth-graders.
For a sixth consecutive year, the South Side Stride event has aimed to put a friendly face on teachers so that incoming students would feel more at ease when the school year begins.
The schools contacted the families of the incoming students to arrange for them to be at home to receive the backpacks.
Teachers and staff gathered at their respective schools early Friday before walking the community to deliver the backpacks.
A total of 24 staff members from the three schools went out in groups of three to each deliver a half-dozen or so of the 80 backpacks.
Those homes that did not answer the front door had the option of getting their backpacks either at meet-and-greet events at Fountain Hill Park or Yosko Park later Friday, or at the schools at a later date.
'Can't wait to take it to school'
The front door of the apartment along Seneca Street opened and out walked 6-year-old John Figueroa, wiping sleep from his eyes.
As the boy’s mother led her tentative son to the edge of the front porch, he looked down to see three strangers.
W-Stambaugh greeted the boy with a smile and explained why she and her cohorts were visiting.
“John, we have a backpack for you for school,” she said. “We have a black one and a blue one. Which is your favorite color?”
The boy pointed to the blue one.
And he cracked a bit of a smile.
W-Stambaugh and teachers Corey Harvey and Brandie Siegmund smiled back. The wall of unfamiliarity had been broken. They were strangers to the child no more.
Incoming kindergartener Kenny Moore was asked what was cooler — the new blue backpack he just got or the refreshing red-and-white ice pop melting down his right hand on the 85-degree day?
“My backpack!” he said, excitedly. “I can’t wait to take it to school!”
'Nervous about starting school'
As she watched her son enjoying himself at Fountain Hill Park, Emily Howard exhaled a sigh of relief.
"This makes me feel more at ease about sending him to school.”Emily Howard, a Fountain Hill Elementary School parent
“He’s my first child, so I’m a little nervous about starting school,” she said.
“But seeing how much fun he’s having today — meeting friendly faces, getting his backpack — even before school starts is such a great program.
"This makes me feel more at ease about sending him to school.”
At Fountain Hill Park, there were backpacks and ice pops and kids on swings and a sliding board who soon will become fellow students and friends.
There was W-Stambaugh hugging every kid who wanted one.
There were teachers and staff telling each child how much they couldn’t wait to see them at school.
And there were so many smiles as children walked away with a free backpack.
Were the bigger smiles flashed by the backpack givers or the getters?
The debate rages on.
