‘That’s equity; that’s inclusion’: Back to School Bash set for Aug. 11

For the past two years, the Kiwanis Club of Oxford has thrown a back to school bash ahead of the Talawanda School District’s first day of school. The bash is set up to help students get supplies, walk parents through any remaining forms that need to be filled out and bring the community together.

This year, organizer Jennifer Marston says she hopes the Back to School Bash will be bigger than ever.

“We served 700 meals last year,” Marston said. “My goal is at least 725 this year. My goal is always bigger, better, more. I want to serve more children, more families in the community.”

The event will run 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Aug. 11 at the Oxford Aquatic Center. Everything from haircuts and clothing to back to school supplies and even swimming will be free, and each visitor will get a slice of pizza, chips and a beverage.

This year, Marston says at least six barbers and hairstylists will be providing free haircuts at the event, up from three last year. The stylists are coming from the Rose Room Salon, Rooted Hair and Beauty and Kiki the Barber.

Juiquetta Harmon, the namesake for Kiki the Barber, said she’s been providing free haircuts for Talawanda ahead of picture day for years. When Kiwanis came to the district with the idea of bringing the back to school bash back, they asked for her help with haircuts, too. She said helping kids to speak up for themselves and how they want their hair to look is an important and gratifying part of her job.

“That’s the gift for me to see them see themselves differently than they did before,” Harmon said. “Maybe they saw themselves as confident already. If we can put a little icing on the cake, you know, that’s even better.”

Last year, Harmon and the other barbers provided roughly 75 haircuts over the course of the evening. With double the help this year, that number should be even higher.

Shana Rosenberg, founder and executive director of Thread Up Oxford, gave away more than 1,000 items of clothing at last year’s bash. While she and her volunteers started off limiting each person to 10 items of clothing, by the last hour she said they let people take what they wanted and needed.

“Oxford does have quite a bit of hardship,” Rosenberg said, “and I do think that the community as a whole doesn’t have a lot of recognition of it … There is just this huge need in the community. So how does Thread Up work with that? How do social service agencies work with that? How do we promote awareness? I think it’s by doing these kinds of events.”

According to a report by Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services at a July 9 school board meeting, the organization had served nearly 600 school-aged children in 2024 already. Last year, the organization served 739 school-aged children total.

For Marston, giving kids a fresh start at the beginning of the school year is important to help students feel equal regardless of income.

“Some of them don’t want to go back because they don’t have the things that other kids have,” Marston said. “They might feel left out. But this creates an air of excitement, that everybody can have the same things. I want everybody to be excited to go back to school.”

Harmon said she’s looking forward to providing safe and comfortable experiences for students again this year. The Back to School Bash represents the community coming together, she said, without worrying about the differences that may divide people.

“When you stand up and you say, every kid gets the same thing, that’s equity. That’s inclusion. That’s diversity. That’s amplifying community voices,” Harmon said. “When every single individual has a need, and that need is met, that’s why we stand up and we give the haircuts.”

Other organizations involved in the bash this year include McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital, Oxford Parks and Recreation, the Oxford Coalition for a Healthy Community, Primary Health Solutions and Talawanda itself. The first day of school for most students in the district is Aug. 14. Kindergarteners and first graders will start on Aug. 19.