Pearson Middle's Back to School Bash Draws Over 1K Attendees

FAIR OAKS — An estimated 1,000 people turned out for Pearson Middle School’s back-to-school celebration Thursday.

The school helped families prepare for the new school year, which starts August 1, with a back-to-school event that provided backpacks filled with school supplies for students in the Fair Oaks community.

Merrill Baker, an assistant with the Cobb Schools Foundation, said guests were lined up in front of the school as early as 8 a.m. The event did not start until 11 a.m.

Pearson principal Dean Yoder called the experience “mind-blowing” and said they were only expecting 400 to 600 guests.

“What you are seeing right now is a beautiful thing,” Yoder said. “The turnout has been something that we did not expect, which is quite surprising. I just hope that we have enough food and backpacks and supplies for all the wonderful students in our community.”

Representatives from Cobb Schools Foundation and GracePoint Marietta Baptist Church handed out over 600 free backpacks filled with school supplies and personal hygiene products. By 11:30 a.m., all the backpacks were gone.

The Atlanta Braves Home Plate Project, Chick-fil-A and the Cobb Police Department were just three of the 16 listed sponsors.

Visitors had two options: enter the school and engage in all the event’s activities, or go through the “drive-up distribution” center in the school’s bus lot and pick up family meal donations.

Multiple nonprofits set up booths in the school’s gymnasium offering visitors even more. On top of receiving backpacks and school supplies, families also had access to dental and vision exams, physicals for students, student vaccinations, blood pressure checks and diaper handouts. Due to the overwhelming number of people, the line to get to the gym stretched all the way to the school’s cafeteria, on the opposite side of the building.

Volunteers from multiple schools in the district helped coordinate lines and translated and communicated with non-English speaking guests.

Helping Mamas, a Georgia-based nonprofit, hosted a booth handing out free diapers to visitors. Founder and CEO Jamie Lackey said 1 in 2 families in the U.S. is struggling to afford them.

“It is a big need and being able to offer diapers allows (mothers) to offset expenses for other things they might need to go back to school,” Lackey said.

Community Organized Relief Efforts (CORE) also offered free student vaccinations.

Fair Oaks Elementary student Gideon Brooks, age 6, attended the event with his mother, Ember Brooks, to get updated on his shots. After braving through a painful shot, he received a colorful, tie-dye bandage on his arm.

Ember Brooks said she was excited to see the turnout.

“It’s a very diverse community here at Fair Oaks, which we love, and everyone is just really nice and friendly,” Brooks said.

Outside in the bus lot, volunteers from the Home Plate Project and MUST Ministries passed out protein boxes for families in the drive-up distribution center while Chick-fil-A passed out their signature chicken sandwiches.

Kids at the bash even got a special visit from Chick-fil-A’s mascot, a cow wearing a company T-shirt encouraging guests to “Eat Mor Chikin.”

“It makes my heart happy that we’re able to do so much support for our community,” Yoder said. “I’ve been fortunate to be principal in this area for seven years, and there’s no other place I want to be because of the community.”

Pearson’s seventh grade assistant principal, Kristi Lankford, said these kinds of events help fulfill Yoder’s goal for the school: “To connect, to empower and to succeed.”

“We really look at all the students as one child. We want them to be happy and satisfied on the outside of the school walls so that way, when they come to school, all they focus on is school and not (being) worried about anything that might be going on outside,” Lankford said. “...to have this many people here, and to be able to do this for our community, helps us to make sure all of our students get the best academics and education while they’re here.”