Every year our school receives a new group of freshmen who, until recently, had to fend for themselves in getting to know the nature of high school. Thankfully, the freshmen mentoring program has been helping our incoming freshmen adjust to the changes they will face for their next four years. So far, the program has impacted three years of new freshmen, and has successfully helped them get an idea of what high school is really like.
On the day of freshmen orientation the mentors begin their duties. “We run them through a normal day [of school] so they know what to expect,” claimed mentor Josh Knost ’12. This can be helpful for the freshmen because if they have any questions about where their classes are, the mentors can show them where it is. “I wouldn’t have known where anything was,” Savannah Pakulski ’15, one of the incoming freshmen said.
The mentors also played various games with the freshmen to help them get acquainted with the building and fellow students, including a scavenger hunt, and several other activities. “We played an ice breaker name game where we had to dance and say our name,” said Veronica Stocker ’15.
Some mentors even wish the mentoring program was available when the upperclassmen were freshmen. “I would definitely have liked to have this program when I was a freshman,” says Knost, “First, you can make friends with the upperclassmen, and second, you have an idea where all your classes are and such.”
What exactly does it take to be a mentor, though? First of all, you have to be an upperclassman, which includes juniors and seniors. “You have to be a good kid, too, and you have to be viewed as a good leader within the school.” Knost said.
The program includes about 56 of these exceptional students, and each mentor is assigned 10 or 11 kids. Although they don’t meet very often throughout the year, the freshmen are still able to seek help from their mentors whenever they want.
Although it is a fairly new program, so far it’s making outstanding progress. There is room for improvement though. “It should be open for the new kids [of all grades] too,” Mirza Mahmutovic ’12, freshmen mentor, said.
This program is a great way to help the younger grades. Instead of wandering aimlessly around school on the first day, freshmen now have an idea of where everything is, and what to expect from our school. We owe it to our freshmen and their mentors for helping maintain a positive attitude between the newcomers and those who were already here.
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