Back-to-school: Nye students get ready for their big day back — PHOTOS
Nye County School District students will begin heading back to the classrooms on Wednesday, Aug.8 and thanks to the combined efforts of the NyE Communities Coalition and many other partners, hundreds of those students are now prepared to face their educational challenges with brand new backpacks and plenty of useful supplies.
The coalition’s Annual Back to School Fair took place July 29 at the Pahrump Valley High School campus, where local families were greeted by a bustling group of volunteers and vendors. Though lines were long, as the event is always a popular one for local families, things proceeded smoothly and when all was said and done, a total of 560 backpacks had made their way into the hands of Pahrump’s elementary, middle and high school students.
“The Back to School Fair went amazingly well!” event lead Pam Smith with the NyECC raved afterward. “It was organized and the participants were great listeners and followed directions well. We kept most of the event inside the school corridors, so that kept the public cool and out of the sun and heat. I was so proud to be the leader of this event. We had 24 vendors from the community attend and pass out their wares and information, in addition to passing out a school supply to the crowd. It was incredible, a huge turnout!”
In addition to the 560 backpacks chock full of supplies given out in Pahrump on July 29, the coalition made certain to spread its student-preparedness efforts all over Nye County. There were 100 backpacks distributed in Amargosa, 100 given away in Beatty, 35 donated to the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services and 50 sent up to the Tonopah community. Cumulatively, the NyECC’s Back to School initiative ensured that more than 800 students will be ready to hit the books as the new school term begins.
“There were all kinds of supplies handed out, such as binders, composition notebooks, loose-leaf paper, folders, spiral notebooks, pencil pouches, pencils, pens, mechanical pencils, erasers, crayons, colored pencils, markers, rulers, fidget toys, nutrition items, first-aid kits, sunglasses and sunscreen,” Smith detailed. “Everything was donated through the vendors, as well as with donations through some of the coalition grants. Random people also dropped off donations too.
“We’d love to thank our vendors, including Spring Mountain Medical, the VFW, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Desert Radiology, Desert View Hospital, Pahrump Pediatrics, Youth WERKS, SAMSHA, Nevada System of Care, 4-H, the Lions Club, WIC, Nevada Outreach, Nevada Rural Housing, SNAP ED, Nye County Community Health Nurse, Nevada Eye Physicians and Bikers Against Child Abuse,” Smith was quick to add. “And thank you to Spring Mountain Medical for also providing the sports physicals, which totaled about 35, to Saitta Trudeau for donating 60 backpacks with pencil cases, Intermountain Health for the very popular 60 backpacks in Super Mario, Baby Yoda, Unicorn and Shark designs and to Jess Rosner, Rachel Leddy, Aimee Riley, Monique Fischer and Marlaina Porter for sponsoring the car seat program, where we gave out 56 car seats to area families.”
Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com
