“I really like this school,” says Lauryn, 6, pictured with her brother, Jayden, 7, playing with sock puppets at one of the Kid Zone activities at the Hickman Mills Family Summit at Smith-Hale Middle School March 5, 2022.

Being 6 years old, Lauryn had a lot to absorb trying to sort out just what was going on here at the annual Hickman Mills Family Summit.

Considering the goodies she’d loaded in her bag at the colorful vendors’ booths, the music and dancing in the gym, the drum lines, the games and sock puppets she’d made upstairs in the Kid Zone — this, she was convinced, was a world of magical classrooms.

Said Lauryn: “I really like this school.”

Her mother, Deja Kendrick, with her other child, 7-year-old Jayden, laughed at the child’s joy — which was the icing on the cake on what she described as an enriching family experience at the March 5 event at Smith-Hale Middle School.

“I like it that it brings the community together and that families can come out and enjoy and learn more about the things that are out there for them,” Kendrick said. “And my kids are having fun, so it’s great.”

Children dance during a Kansas City Young Audiences show at the Hickman Mills Family Summit March 5.

In all, some 75 partner organizations brought resources, information, services and entertainment back to the Family Summit, returning fully in-person after having to go virtual a year ago.

In March 2020, the summit was one of the last major community events in the area before the pandemic swept across the nation. This year, LINC and the Hickman Mills School District could go wide-open again in rounding up a vast event.

“We’re happy to be partnering with LINC for our Summit Day,” Hickman Mills Superintendent Yaw Obeng said. “You can see all the community has come out.”

Behind him, in the main gym, colored table cloths, banners and balloons invited the circulating families and neighbors to check out health services, a job fair, social service providers, family entertainment opportunities — with LINC’s usual array of raffle prizes on display while a deejay pumped the air with raucous beats.

“This is what a community is about,” Obeng said. “In building collaboration with our district, it leads to parent engagement, vendors engagement, and, eventually, student success.”

LINC’s Sean Akridge, left, and Hickman Mills Superintendent Yaw Obeng, right, greet a raffle drawing winner.

For first-time visitors, like vendor Valencia Murphy, the Summit was a delightful surprise.

Murphy, a supervisor with the Nellie Shoats/Lucille Douglas Youth Council, took a moment away from the group’s booth to tour the rows of other vendors with two of the girls in the program, Taraji, 11, and Sarai, 9.

“I’m very excited,” she said. “I enjoy all the vendors, the information you receive, the different types of people that are here — I wasn’t planning on it being this way.”

Many of the programs for youth were familiar to families that are in LINC’s before- and after-school programs in the district, as many of their favorites filled the Kid Zone.

Urban TEC, Mad Science, NickiFit, Kansas City Young Audiences with StoneLion Puppet Theater, Smith-Hale’s Wild Eagles drum line and drill team entertained families with the help of LINC’s blue-shirted staff.

Monique Miller leaves with her prize from LINC’s collection of raffle prizes at the Hickman Mills Family Summit.

“We're excited for the chance to be back together,” LINC Caring Communities Administrator Sean Akridge said. “It’s been two years this week since we were together in person. It’s great to be a partner with the school district.”

The day ended with Obeng and Akridge calling out the winning numbers for the raffle for more than two dozen prizes provided by LINC, including kitchen gifts, tool sets, Chiefs lounge chairs and gift cards.

Hickman Mills parent Monique Miller came away with a Ninja Foodi air fryer and accompanying cook book, which she and her daughter carted out at the end of what was an all-around rewarding day.

“We got our Covid shots,” she said. “We got lunch. We went to a whole lot of booths. Everybody was nice.”

That would have been fun enough, but the list had a topper:

“And a Ninja Foodi,” she said. “I can’t wait to cook food in it.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer