Back-to-School kickoff event in Henrico draws hundreds to Fairfield Middle (and its basketball courts)

Families and students from all over Henrico crowded the field grounds of Fairfield Middle School Friday and Saturday to help usher in the coming school year, with lines wrapped around the food and ice cream trucks and people gathered around the many booths that represented each Henrico school. The crowd was in the hundreds.

The HCPS “Back-to-School Kickoff,” held Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, had the same draws as it does every year: food, games, music, and the opportunity to chat with school administrators and even register for school.

But new this year was the “Hoop It Up” basketball tournament. Students of all ages participated in free throw and three-point shooting contests at the school’s basketball courts on Friday and then showed up on Saturday for the tournament, which attracted dozens of teams. (The courts, dedicated by county officials in June 2022, were built to professional-level specification as a way to provide the community with a state-of-the-art place to gather and play.)

Bringing in Hoop It Up, a three-on-three basketball tour, summoned some nostalgia for the parents and administrators who grew up in the area and used to go to their own Hoop It Up summer tournaments when they were students.

“I was born and raised here, and so when I was school-aged, we had Hoop It Up and would go during the summer,” Adrienne Cole Johnson, HCPS Chief of Family and Community Engagement, said. “And so we thought about, what does it look like to bring that back – unity, teamwork, collaboration with a team – and to combine that with our back-to-school event.”

Many families were also lined up outside a tent with HCPS staff giving out free school supplies and backpacks. A number of Henrico public schools had a booths with administrators who could talk to families. Firefighters from the Henrico County Division of Fire also brought a firetruck to the event so that students could climb inside and see all of their equipment.

The kickoff is integral to HCPS’ efforts to keep engaging with families and students, especially as school starts on Aug. 21 – a week earlier than last year and two weeks earlier than in previous years – according to Johnson.

“It really is, because we talk about having warm and welcoming spaces for our children,” she said. “And we know that that doesn’t just start when they enter the school. So we wanted to have a fun space, before you get into all the academics and all of those things.”

HCPS officials also want the kickoff to welcome families who are new to Henrico Schools and may not know where to go to ask questions or get resources, Johnson said.

“It’s been a really nice space, especially for a lot of our families who are transitioning or maybe it’s their first year coming in,” she said.

Johnson said that the event saw “great turnout,” with a lot of students interested in the Hoop It Up tournament. Along with HCPS administrators, School Board member Roscoe Cooper, III of Fairfield District also came out to speak with families.

After schools tabled on Friday, many Henrico community organizations and partners manned booths on Saturday so that HCPS families could explore different resources offered.

Henrico Schools partnered with Henrico’s Building Constructive Communities Foundation, a nonprofit that serves Henrico youth and families, to host the kickoff, the first time BCCF has helped organize the event. Leon Dangerfield, BCCF’s Program Specialist, said the organization wants to promote more community and youth engagement to fight against issues such as substance abuse, gun violence, or interpersonal violence.

“We decided to come together to do something, because we don’t want them to have the issues that we face,” Dangerfield said, pointing to the students on the basketball court. “We’re trying and hoping to get them started in the right direction so they can make good choices.”

Dangerfield, who previously struggled with a heroin addiction himself, now works with Henrico families who struggle with substance abuse issues. He wanted the event to showcase to youth the power of working together with the community to build each other up.

“So many people are trying to do things, and it’s not working because they don’t have all the teams to help them,” he said. “And when you have a group of people, everybody can do things that they can’t do just as individuals. So we try to do it as a whole, but also bring each person up one at a time.”

Henrico Schools officials intend to continue the two-day event with Hoop It Up in the future, instead of just holding a one-day kickoff as they did in past years, according to Johnson.

“Every year we’ll do a back to school event, and we said we’ll see how Hoop It Up goes, but we like to start things that we can sustain and maintain,” she said. “And so if the students love it and the parents and families love it, our goal is to do it again.”

Dangerfield, hyping up the crowd on the sidelines with his microphone, said he was glad to see families and students excited to engage with each other.

“At the end of the day, it’s about basketball and having fun, and it’s about engaging the community,” he announced to the crowd.

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.