Cool kids say 'I've got your back!' (6 photos)

The first day of high school can be intimidating and bewildering, to say the least.

With that in mind, a group of dedicated Algoma District School Board (ADSB) students, in Grades 11 and 12 at Superior Heights and White Pines, will be on hand to welcome and assist students beginning Grade 9 when the new school year begins Tuesday.

44 students in the senior grades at Superior Heights are helping out as leaders in the Link Crew program, so that more than 200 incoming Grade 9 students at Superior Heights can feel at home.

This marks the third consecutive year Superior Heights and White Pines have offered the Link Crew program.

“The first day of school will include lots of activity and lots of play to get the Grade 9 kids excited to be at school and to decrease anxiety,” said Marnie Tarantini, Superior Heights attendance counsellor, speaking to SooToday Thursday.

The plan is for a ‘town crier’ to be on hand and music to play as Grade 9 students arrive at Superior Heights at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Link Crew leaders will line up and cheer on Grade 9 students as they head to the Superior Heights gym, where festivities such as games and singing will take place.

After the initial larger event in the gym, the Grade 9 students will break up into groups of ten, each group led by two Link Crew leaders.

They will be taken on a tour of the school and have their questions answered in regard to their high school schedules, their lockers, padlocks and other ‘first day of high school’ concerns.

Tuesday’s activities will wrap up at 1 p.m. at both Superior Heights and White Pines.

“By the time they leave here on the first day of school, the Grade 9 students will have a really good understanding of what to expect the next day, they’ll have a good understanding of how the school works, they’ll have made some connections with some peers in their own group and they’ll have made some connections with the Grade 12 students,” Tarantini said.

“The really nice thing is that it goes beyond that initial first day or that initial first week, it’s a transition program that runs the entire year, so the Link Crew leaders that are assigned a group of Grade 9 students are with the same group the entire year, so they really have that opportunity to develop those friendships,” said Tamara Miller-Yandeau, a Superior Heights teacher and guidance counsellor.

Link Crew leaders will meet with their Grade 9 students on a weekly basis, say ‘hi’ when they see them in the halls, leave encouraging notes on their lockers, and so on.

Link Crew leaders will be wearing colourful T-shirts (with ‘The Crew 2016’ on the front, ‘I’ve got your back’ on the back) throughout the early stages of the school year.

“Apart from the first day of school, it’s a very detailed academic and social program that supports the Grade 9 students all the way through the school year,” Tarantini said.

“It’s a dual approach where the senior students have an opportunity to lead the younger students, and at the same time the younger students feel more welcome,” said Seth Cond, Superior Heights teacher and guidance counsellor.

There will be one structured activity per month for Crew Link team members and Grade 9 students per month, such as a dance or sporting event, special lunches and carnivals.

Three more teachers have been trained to administer the Link Crew program at Superior Heights, for a total of six Link Crew staff members at that school alone.

The Link Crew program originated in California and has been introduced in over 3,000 schools across North America, over 600 of those in Ontario.

Link Crew leaders, who have completed two days of training at Superior Heights and White Pines, will be contacting incoming Grade 9 students by phone with a ‘looking forward to meeting you’ message. 

Kiernan Green, Blair Headrick and Carli Tarantini are Grade 12 Superior Heights students, trained for the Link Crew program.

Headrick and Tarantini were not beneficiaries of the program when they were in Grade 9, as it had not yet been introduced to Superior Heights.

“I wish we would have had the program, because in Grade 9 everyone is coming in at once and it’s chaotic, and you’re trying to find where to go, but with the Link Crew leaders you’re all together in a group and you already meet friends before school really starts,” Headrick said.

“On the first day of school in Grade 9 we walked in and we got our schedules in a lineup of hundreds of people, it told us what class we were in and the room number, but it didn’t tell us how to get there, so when we get our Grade 9 kids on Tuesday we’ll show them everywhere they have to go, and how to get there,” Tarantini said.

“I had a form of Link Crew when I was at St. Basil when it was a high school, so it’s really cool to see how it’s gone from that school to other schools in the city, and in southern Ontario too…it really helped me because I met a lot of interesting people through Link Crew, it was pretty special for me,” Green said.

All three feel good about ‘giving back.’

“It’s nice because you know you’re going to have an impact,” Tarantini said.

“They (the Grade 9 students) are going to be here long after we’re gone because we’re graduating this year and they’ll be here for three more years, so it’s nice to give them something before you leave, to make their transition easier.”

“And, you hope they’re going to carry that through and help others,” Headrick said.

“When you’re in Grade 9 you’re intimidated when you look at the Grade 12 students…but now, it’s nice for us because we can say ‘hi’ to Grade 9s we met last year,” Headrick said.   

“It feels good…it’s good to know I’m going to be the person who can help,” Green said.