We know students who enter the ninth grade come with a combination of excitement and anxiety, as they adjust to a new building or a whole new school in the case of our 37 new-to-CA freshmen.  Parents who have not experienced having a child in high school can feel much the same way.  So we are very intentional and empathetic in our approach to all this newness.

 

Orientation Day is certainly a crucial component to getting the year off right. All incoming 9^th graders have a chance to meet their advisors, work with leaders in the senior class, discuss everything from “where is my locker” to “how do I read my schedule” to how to stay organized, make sure their iPads are ready to go, and engage in some fun activities.  Along the way, students get to meet and interact with some old friends and many more soon-to-be friends.  Overall, the main goal is to “demystify” the beginning of high school a little bit, and at the very least help allay the worries about finding lockers and classrooms and knowing what to expect on Day One. 

 

Speaking of Day 1, one of the school’s long-standing traditions is the welcoming of 9th graders by the seniors – in this case, the class of 2017.  Waiting at the front entrance of the Upper School building, the senior class all happily and noisily greet the new students.  Each new 9^th grader is randomly matched with a senior “greeter” who gives them a t-shirt, a Jamba Juice, and escorts them into the building.  The seniors are dressed in whatever theme they have designated for the year: this year the theme is “Outer Space” so the decorations, t-shirts, and costumes took on a decidedly sci-fi tone.  I saw quite a few aliens, a number of NASA-inspired suits, bobbing antennae, and a few things I couldn’t quite interpret!

 

Another way that seniors will be directly supporting freshmen this year is through our Community Leadership Team (CLT).  Now in its tenth year, CLT is a peer support program in which older mentors help ninth graders with their transition to high school.  In advisory groups, two or three senior leaders facilitate discussions on everything from time management to social interactions to healthy body image.  Having gone through a rigorous application and training process, these 24 seniors are uniquely prepared and excited to lead their groups and take their responsibilities very seriously.  On Monday the CLT students brought lunch to their designated advisories and then led students in various fun activities.  They will continue to work with these students two or three times a month.

 

At the request of our deans, last year’s graduating class wrote up some sage advice for this year’s 9^th graders.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the wisdom they offered focused on four key themes: be yourself, work hard (while having fun along the way), get to know your teachers, and stay open to peers you don’t know as well.  In general, there was a great deal written from the vantage point of “if I only knew then what I know now.”  Of course, developmentally freshmen can’t know certain things now; their brains are still more wired to seek acceptance from familiar others and to worry about not “fitting in.”  What a thoughtful, intentional community can do is help support them along that developmental journey and keep nudging them toward greater confidence and insight.