Students at Barack Obama Elementary get cheered on by squad of Black dads on first day back

This month, students at Barack H. Obama Magnet Elementary in Jackson, Mississippi, are being welcomed back to school in style!

Last week, and organization called Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), sent about two dozen members out to welcome the kids with high fives, hugs and warm cheers of encouragement as they walked back onto school grounds and into the facility.

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Watch D.O.G.S. are a part of the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and according to their website, the group was founded in 1998 spanning across over 6,400 schools nationwide. Their primary objective is to provide “positive male role models” and “enhance school security and reduce bullying.”

“The inspiration behind it was the want for our kids to know their dads believe in them and support them,” PTA president Rashad Williams told CBS News. “It has shown to have a huge impact on the first day jitters and new kids’ confidence.”

Williams also added that the Watch D.O.G.S. have enthusiastically been showing up for the kid’s first day of school for the past few years. Parents and community members were touched by the sweet photos of the welcome event that were posted to the school PTA’s Facebook page.

These dads know that being involved in your child’s life is important! #WATCHDOGS #DadsInSchools #DOGSinthenews  https://t.co/Za7VG0GwIe

— WATCH D.O.G.S. (@WATCH_DOGS) November 2, 2015

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The post was accompanied with the caption, “A tunnel of WATCH D.O.G. Dads were on hand to greet our scholars on their first day of the 2019 school year,” and just as it states young children can be seen gleefully running through the “tunnel” of supportive parents.

For Williams the annual tradition feels like a full circle moment given that some of the proud fathers who now participant in the program, were once his students as well.

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