This year, the SHS Link Crew has decided to change it up a bit.  Student leaders have had and will continue to have more involvement with their freshmen by assisting them with their scheduling and continuing to meet with them for the remainder of the year.

   Link Crew Advisor Kristin Johnson believes that this increased involvement will both help the freshmen succeed and help maintain close relationships between the freshmen and their student leaders.

   “We used to stop in December and then do kind of a wrap-up at the end of the year,” said Johnson, but there was too much time lost between the last December meeting and the wrap-up.  “We kind of lost touch [with the freshmen].”

   It was the Link Crew leaders themselves, she said, who had the idea to maintain involvement with their freshmen students, asking if they could schedule to meet with them throughout the entirety of the year.  They have three more meetings remaining this year, in which the leaders will continue will continue to advise their students academically.

   Senior Link Crew leader Gideon Miles believes the change has been beneficial to both the freshmen and their leaders.

   “We can see the growth [the freshmen have] made this year, what they’ve done, and [have] seen them grow into high schoolers who are responsible for their own assignments and learning to embrace their own interests,” said Miles.  “It’s cool to be able to help them figure out what they want to do.”

   One of the ways in which the Link Crew leaders helped their students do so this year was by advising them throughout the scheduling process. Not only did they inform freshmen about the core classes they are required to take next year, but also suggested classes that might align with their interests.  Students’ interests are one of the main considerations taken during the process, according to Johnson.

   “The first question the leaders asked was kind of ‘What are your future goals?’” said Johnson.  “They had conversations about that and then kind of built a schedule around it.”

   Link leaders also provided valuable advice from their experience, according to Miles.

   “I went around and talked to the freshmen and kind of let them know what I’ve done, what classes I’ve taken, and how they’ve benefited me,” said Miles.  “Some of them were like, ‘Well, I’m kind of scared of an AP class,’ and I could tell them that it’s something they might want to do, and it might be rewarding.”

   So far, it seems that both Link Crew leaders and their freshmen have benefited from the leaders’ increased involvement and will continue to do so for the rest of year, perhaps in future years as well.