GREEN RIVER — As Green River High School prepares for the school year, they are ensuring the incoming freshman class feel welcomed and connected with a mentoring program called Link Crew.
Freshman students came to the high school Tuesday morning for their orientation and to meet with a group of junior and senior leaders who are acting as mentors for the new high schoolers. GRHS Master Social Workers Spring Jones and Danielle Deters are fronting the Link Crew to make sure the freshmen feel like they’re a part of the school’s culture from the very start of the year.
“What Link Crew does is it helps the 9th graders create connections before they even start school, because when kids are connected they’re more likely to be here, more likely to take part in school and in the related activities,” Jones said. “Plus, it helps our shy or disconnected kids gain a sense of belonging.”
Jones and Deters said they asked teachers throughout the school to recommend junior and senior students who would make good leaders for this program. However, Jones said next year they will still be asking for recommendations but students will also have to put in an application with letters of reference to be a leader.
“We have a lot of natural leaders in our community, and the application process allows the kids who are those quiet leaders who may think, ‘hey, that’s what I want to be’ to apply, and then we can give them the tools to sharpen their leadership skills,” Deters said.
Jones said this year one of the quiet leaders, who was unsure of their ability to lead last year, really shined as a mentor and even called his group of freshman students to personally invite them to the mentor day.
The leaders trained for 10 hours over two days so they would be equipped to mentor the freshman class. On Tuesday, the freshmen broke down into groups, and the leaders lead them through a series of challenges that help build connections, and they answered any questions the 9th graders had prior to the first day of school. Additionally, the leaders showed the freshman class around the school, helped them get familiar with the high school schedule, and let them know everything a 9th grader needs to know.
