Meridian students stocked up on pencils, paper, notebooks and more on Saturday as Meridian Parks and Recreation Department and Meridian Public School District partnered to host their annual Back 2 School Bash at Highland Park.

Parks and Recreation Director Thomas Adams said the two organizations, along with numerous sororities, fraternities, civic groups and clubs, come together each year to help students kick of the new school year on the right foot.

Participating organizations set up individual booths along the park loop, which allowed families and children to collect supplies as they walked from booth to booth. Volunteers were on hand to pass out extra bags when the ones children were carrying quickly filled up.

“Make sure you get tons of bags, y’all,” Adams said. “Trust me, your bags are going to fill up really, really quick.”

Adrian Cross Phillips, parent engagement specialist for MPSD, said the school district, community organizations and parks and recreation department all wanted to see students succeed.

“We love you, and we want you to be successful this year,” she said.

In addition to getting school supplies, Saturday’s event also served to introduce parents and families to some of the people and resources they may not know are available to them, Phillips said. For example, she said, as a parent engagement specialist, her job is to help connect parents to academic resources that will help their child succeed in Meridian public schools.

“We want you to have a successful year, and we want you to believe in blue,” she said.