Mrs. Smith, an English teacher at Pasco High, recently became the Link Crew advisor for the foreseeable future. Link Crew is a program across the nation whose purpose is for upperclassmen to help and guide freshmen through their first year at high school, which is a huge step up from middle school.
In past years, Link Crew’s only job was helping out at Freshman Day, the day before all of the Sophomores and upperclassmen start school, where the Link Crew leaders have icebreaker activities and show them around the school before they have a miniature school day. Mrs. Smith said, “…the day before [Freshman Day], they call the freshman and invite them to freshman day and say ‘hey I’m your Link Crew leader, look for me, I’m excited to see you tomorrow’ and then on the next day we have an assembly and then the student Link Crew leaders take [the freshmen] into classes with their small groups to do activities, ‘get to know you,’ comfortable activities, they prepare them what every ninth grader should know, they take them on a tour of the school, and we have a little competition.” After that, Link Crew didn’t do too much throughout the entire school year.
Bailee Peterson, a senior graduating from Pasco High this year, who also participated in Link Crew this last school year, said, “We got a group of incoming freshmen, and we showed them around the school and then encouraged bonding with each other so that they didn’t feel as lonely coming in and they were able to make connections before school started.”
Samuel Macduff, a junior who also participated in Link Crew, stated, “As a Link Crew leader, on Freshman Day, the first day of school before all other PHS students come in, we go through some icebreakers and some team-building skills, and then we tour the school, showing incoming freshman where their classes are going to be.”
Mrs. Smith is planning to do more than Freshman Day for future freshmen. She said, “It’s an all-year thing. We have them on the first day of school, freshman orientation day, and then we ‘link’ up with them throughout the year. Each month, we’re going to have activities for freshmen. We’ll have tutoring for freshmen and lunch meetings with freshmen to keep them on track and to understand what it means to be part of high school.”
To sign up for Link Crew, a current junior or sophomore must complete an application, which can be done either online or on a hard copy found throughout the school. Mrs. Smith said, “…there were QR codes around the school, there were bit.lys around the school, and there were also hard copies where students could complete the application.”
Most previous Link Crew leaders’ experiences as Link Crew leaders have been very positive. Bailee said, “It was really fun. I enjoyed getting to know all of the incoming freshmen and also people in my class that I didn’t know before.”
Sam added, “My experience in Link Crew was really fun and really engaging. I got to help freshmen into high school who were nervous and scared. I loved it because I was surrounded by a lot of close friends, and I met a lot of new people.”
Overall, Link Crew seems like a really fun volunteer experience for upperclassmen to help their freshmen peers become successful in high school. It may inspire freshmen to possibly join for their upperclassmen years and help them enjoy high school as much as they can.
