NSC Hosts Back to School Events
Furthermore, in order to maximize our efforts in preparing these refugees and immigrants for a new school environment, we provided an information session on navigating the education system here in the U.S.
This September 2016, the children of our newly arrived refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers will be heading to a new school, but thanks to our backpack giveaway they will be ready! For many children, the start of a new school year is not only accompanied by excitement and learning, but also the purchase of items such as pencils, book bags, notebooks, and folders. NSC recognizes the financial burden that this may cost to their parents and in partnership with our generous donors, we have taken action!
On Monday, August 8th and Tuesday, August 9th, Nationalities Service Center hosted two Back to School Events where families were provided with free backpacks and school supplies for school aged children. We dedicated Monday, August 8th to Arabic speakers and Tuesday, August 9th to individuals who spoke other languages. Furthermore, in order to maximize our efforts in preparing these refugees and immigrants for a new school environment, we provided an information session on navigating the education system here in the U.S. This event began with an introduction on the workings of an educational system to help combat their unfamiliarity of the public school system. The keynote speaker, Alex Oliver the Site Director of STEM OST Program of McDaniel Middle School who explained how to effectively communicate with their child’s school, how to prevent bullying, and availability and access to after school resources are at their disposal.
After this information session, NSC gave away backpacks filled with supplies that were provided by generous donors primarily through NSC's Amazon Wish List.
No one was more excited about this day than the students themselves. The backpacks were grouped by grades, with supplies inside tailored to different age groups. The kindergarten backpacks were supplied with pencils, crayons, folders, construction paper, scissors, pencil boxes, and expo markers. The elementary school backpacks were supplied with marble composition notebooks, pocket folders, crayons, scissors, and a pencil box. The middle and high school backpacks were supplied with binders, pencils, pens, folders, notebooks, rulers, and index cards. All of these backpacks contained customized School Supply lists that show what additional items they may need for school. About 100 backpacks were given away to 60 different families who came to these two days of backpack giveaways and informative sessions.
NSC hopes that this initiative will help alleviate the average cost of $97.74 on school supplies that the average parents with children spend each school year on these supplies. These events were meant to help give some relief to the challenges that newly arrived refugee and immigrants face and to help these students be more successful in school by helping them arrive prepared to learn. We would like to thank everyone who has taken part in this initiative and to those who have generously donated backpacks and school supplies that will benefit these children and their families.
