QUINCY — There’s still some summer left, but it won’t be long. Quincy Community Health Center helped children and families get ready for school with backpacks and pencils, health and resource information, fire hats and the chicken dance at the Back-to-School Health Fair on Tuesday.  

Mary Jo Ybarra-Vega, outreach and behavioral health coordinator for QCHC, said it’s of the organization’s recognition of National Health Center Week, and a longtime tradition in Quincy. 

“Every year we do a back-to-school health fair, and we’ve been doing it, I think, 20 years now,” she said.  

It started out a lot smaller than it is now – for 2024 the Port of Quincy convention center was filled with organizations providing information for families, along with games and prizes, even a little dancing. It turns out that Walt, the Wenatchee Wild hockey team mascot, isn’t bad at the chicken dance.  

“The main intent of our (health fair) is to celebrate National Health Center week, but it’s also to encourage parents to have their child immunized and ready for school,” she said. “If they have their immunizations and have done well in child exams, we want to reinforce them positively. What we do is allow the kids to pick a backpack.”  

Children also received pencils, crayons, other supplies and health and safety information from a lot of different organizations, from the Quincy Police Department to the Grant County Health District. Grant County Fire District 3 was there with safety information and distributed plastic fire chief hats. 

 “A lot of the groups that we try to invite are those organizations that support children and families, or that we often work with,” Ybarra-Vega said. 

The QCHC works to connect people with services that might be available to them, she said, and many of those agencies attended the health fair.  

“So it’s kind of our way of also breaking down barriers and building bridges for our clients and patients and community members,” she said. 

The health fair helped parents face the challenge of buying school supplies, the prices of which have increased.  

“I think that’s the one thing (that was a surprise). We (said), ‘Wow, the cost of things,’” Ybarra-Vega said.  

The health centers received some grants to help pay the cost of supplies, she said.  

School opening dates announced 

There are still a couple of weeks of summer vacation; depending on the school district, exactly two weeks to almost three weeks. Schools open on different dates in different districts.  

Wilson Creek will be the first school to open its doors for the 2024-25 school year, with classes beginning Aug. 26. Wilson Creek students will be going to school four days per week on a Monday-Thursday schedule.  

Wahluke students begin the school year Aug. 27. The first day will be on the schedule used for parent-teacher conference days. Open houses at district schools are scheduled immediately after classes are dismissed for the first day, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. 

School doors open in Quincy on Aug. 28 for all but kindergarten students, who start Sept. 5. All students except kindergartners must attend check-in sessions Aug. 14 to 16. Parents of kindergartners will meet with teachers Aug. 28 to 30 as part of the district’s “Kindergarten Slow Start” program.  

Warden students also start school Aug. 28. Parents must update information on their children before school starts, said an announcement on the Warden website, a process done online. Parents who don’t have online access can get assistance Aug. 13 to 16 in the Warden cafeteria. The district’s back-to-school night is Aug. 26. 

School also starts Aug. 28 in Moses Lake. Elementary and secondary schedules were modified in the wake of district financial shortfalls that required significant staff cuts. Elementary classes will begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday and 9:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday. Secondary schools will begin and end 10 minutes earlier than the 2023-24 school year.  

All grades start school in Soap Lake Aug. 28. Family orientation is scheduled for Aug. 26, and attendance is required, according to the district website. Students who don’t attend are marked as absent from school. 

The Almira/Coulee-Hartline School District actually is two school districts; both Almira and Coulee City have an elementary school. The combined middle school is in Almira and the combined high school in Coulee City. Classes start Aug. 28 for most students. Kindergartners at Coulee City Elementary start school Sept. 3.  

Most Othello students return to school Aug. 29; for Othello High School sophomores, juniors and seniors the first day will be Aug. 30. Kindergartners start Sept. 3 and 4, depending on whether they’re in the morning or afternoon session. Student registration for the Othello School District is scheduled from 1 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20 and 21 at Othello High School.  

The first day of school in Ephrata is Aug. 29 for all students except kindergarten, which starts Sept. 3. Ephrata students also are required to attend family orientation, which will be Aug. 26 and 27, depending on the school. Students who don’t attend are given an absence.  

    Children clap along during the chicken dance at the Back to School Health Fair in Quincy.
  

    Volunteers, including Walt from the Wenatchee Wild, center, rock the YMCA dance during the Quincy Community Health back-to-school event.
  

    A Quincy student gets a new backpack during the back-to-school health fair.

    A child at the Quincy Back to School Health Fair gets her own fire hat from Grant County Fire District 3 volunteers.
  

    Quincy Police Officer Chris Doty, left, and Walt from the Wenatchee Wild go round and round in the chicken dance at the Back to School health fair.