Parents, both real and host, swarmed across the campus of theMississippi School of the Arts Saturday during the school’s firstParent Day.

“It was wonderful,” said Vicki Bodenhammer, director of theschool. “I don’t know how many parents we had, but there was alot.”

Parent Day began at 11 a.m. and lasted throughout the day.Students helped plan the school’s first event.

The day began with a welcome by the school’s administrativestaff and presentations by the students. Parents were then given atour of Johnson Institute, where classes are held, and metteachers.

“They had not seen those unless they saw them when the kidsmoved in,” Bodenhammer said.

Some parents and host families shared time with the students andgot to know each other even better than their meetings at severalother school functions, she said. Some host families even babysatyounger children, giving parents freedom as they spent time withtheir MSA son or daughter.

“The parents are really happy with the way the community hasaccepted these kids,” Bodenhammer said. “They were highlycomplimentary of the host families. If we heard one thing today, itwas how impressed they were with the host families. We heard thatas much as anything else.”

The school and students also offered several items for sale inan effort to raise funds for the school. Parents bought up totebags, T-shirts and decals with the school’s logo, and alsopurchased prints and notecards with Wyatt Waters’ artwork ofLampton Auditorium.

Another hot item, she said, was the first in a collection oflighted replicas of the historic buildings of Brookhaven. LamptonAuditorium was chosen as the first replica.

“They are not in yet, but we have a model and are takingorders,” she said.

Brookhaven merchants will also be offering the replica soon.