Event helped Brooke students prepare for school

WELLSBURG -- With the help of many local businesses and community members, Brooke County school personnel helped many local youth to prepare for the new school year.

Many families turned out for the school district's annual Back to School Bash, which also offered information about the many programs and activities offered in the school district.

Tables lining the halls of Brooke High School were filled with backpacks, notebooks and hundreds of other school supplies, much of it donated during the recent Stuff the Bus campaign.

With the aid of athletes and band members from the high school and Brooke Middle School, school board staff collected donations of school materials from many businesses and community members at a school bus parked outside the school board's office during a week in July.

Heading the effort and much of the Back to School Bash were school staff members Karen Givens-Whetsell, Brittany Teaters, Amanda DiMarzio, Meredith Hood and Dee Parr.

Many students also received free haircuts thanks to the efforts of Alyssa Jezierski, a Brooke High School senior who recruited more than a dozen area hairstylists to provide the service during the event.

Jezierski said she got the idea for her senior honors project because "My mom was a hairstylist so I always had the chance to start school year looking nice and I wanted to give everyone a chance to do that."

About 60 youth had made appointments and many walk-ins also were being served by the following hairstylists:

Arlene Dudeck, Dana Miller, Lisa Stewart, Chrissy Rees, Abbey Henderson, Bre Hastings, Lindsey McVay, Mary Rosso, Matt Rodinsky, Alexis McClelland, Heather Kosegi and Danielle Johnson.

Jezierski said the effort also was supported by donations from many area businesses.

The school's halls, cafeteria and gym also were filled by teachers, coaches and representatives of various academic and extracurricular programs and local agencies offering services and assistance to local families.

For example, visitors could learn more about the high school's career technical education program, through which students can learn skills and, in some cases, earn certification, for many professional fields, including engineering, business management, nursing, video production, welding, auto repair and carpentry.

Among many nonprofit groups on hand were the handful of volunteers of Bruins Helping Bruins, a food pantry and clothes closet located within the high school.

Volunteer Linda Abercrombie said through donations from various church and other groups and individual residents, the group has been able to provide backpacks filled with food to anywhere from a dozen to 40 students in need on a weekly basis and boxes of food, including materials for holiday meals, to about six local families in need each month.

Abercrombie said providing such a service within the school allows them to feed or clothe youth without bringing attention to their situation, noting many teens just want to fit in with their peers.

They may be referred to Bruins Helping Bruins by principals, teachers or staff with the school district's Communities in Schools program.

"We've sometimes had a kid come in and say, my friend needs food," she added.

The many attending the Back to School Bash also could check out one of several vehicles parked outside by local emergency departments, try ascending a rock climbing wall brought by the West Virginia National Guard or visit a petting zoo with local farm animals.