For the first time in perhaps two years, Wilcox high school hosted their back to school night on Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Back to school night is an event where parents are able to go to their students’ classes in order to meet their teacher, and get to know the school better. Knowing this, it was most definitely exciting, yet stressful for the staff and students. 

The event started around 5:30 pm with dinner at the food trucks, which were lined up in a row and had lines of people waiting to order. “The whole point of having the food trucks, band and the event out in the quad is so that people feel safe around Covid concerns but also to just bring the community around” (Mrs. Gonzalez). With the new experimentations in this back to school, Wilcox is excited for a new experience and wonderful school year, covid free. 

To begin with, teachers were under high pressure that night for about two and a half hours. According to Ms. Corley before the classroom rotations, she was  “pretty stressed but also a bit excited to show parents and guardians [her] class and [her] classroom.” Teachers have the expectation to impress all the parents in such a short amount of time because it is likely that there is much they want to cover, and they can’t cover all of the content. The school needs to reconnect the connection between them and the community that they lost before, due to the pandemic. The last two years of back to school nights have all been online due to health concerns, so it may feel hard for parents and families to trust the school entirely. In fact, the principal even said, “I think we lost that connection over covid times, and distance learning times, and last year we worked hard to get that back and we are slowly doing so,”, so it is crucial that the teachers do well at this event. One other factor that has helped allow the community to feel more at home is having food trucks this year, as it creates a  more inviting environment to make families feel more at home.

 “It’s cool how they got food trucks and have more of an event outside for people together than they do normally” (Ms. Robson). This back to school experience is more fun and entertaining due to all of the food trucks and music. The activities that the school provided drew out more families this time which is very well executed, keeping in mind their goal. “I think that the food trucks are a really good addition because one of the reasons why my family was able to come was because we could manage our time better. The food trucks helped cause it gave us the chance to come here and not have to worry about dinner. It was already provided. If that weren’t here, I don’t think we would have come” (freshman, Dylan Jackson). The band also made the atmosphere more enjoyable by serenading the families and food with the great jazz music they played. This year was the first year that they invited the band to play, and the band teacher is new this year, making it an delightful experience.. 

While in the quad, the parents were “[looking] forward” (A Freshman’s Mother, Mrs. Hackleman) to finally getting to meet the teachers this year. During the pandemic, there were online difficulties during back-to-school nights, and therefore it must have been a  relief for them to be able to go in person and on campus, where there are no such things as lags or microphone malfunctions. According to a freshman’s father,  “We wanna meet the teachers.  We are looking forward to seeing what kind of facilities are there, and what do teachers intend to cover in these next several months” (Mr. Saini). Wilcox has a lot of content and features that the parents and guardian would like to see and analyze to make sure their child is going to the right place. One of the main features here at Wilcox could be advanced facilities, and parents want to make sure the classrooms are good learning environments, have good equipment, etc. Overall, this school year’s back to school event was a  success starting from the food trucks to the hard working teachers. The event was surely a “nice rebound back from covid” (ASB Publicly Commissioner, Zixiang Zheng). 

All in all, the back to school event was a huge success. It brought back the community after a long time in quarantine, and the teachers did a great presentation to the parents, and all the parents’ questions were properly answered. This is the beginning of a new school year, one that preferrably will not be interrupted by Covid or other disasters. Wilcox staff, students, and parents alike are hoping for a good year as good as the back to school night. Get ready to charge into  the school year, Chargers!