Seniors: We’re Your Friends, Freshmen

I remember my first day of freshman year well. Despite having gone to Northwest Academy for middle school, I was so nervous to walk into the Main Building on the first day. I remember sitting in the Blue Box Theater on the first Friday while the seniors presented their annual opening lunch event. I knew only a handful of them and was intimidated to make friends with the ones I didn’t know. I wanted to talk to them and ask them questions, but I was too nervous.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors seem to avoid each other; not sitting with each other at lunch, not working in groups with each other in mixed classes and not acknowledging each other in the hallways. You would think that at such a small school we would all be relatively close, but instead there is a great divide.

During this year’s senior retreat, the class of 2015 decided that this needed to change.

We all shared stories of what it was like to be a freshman. In every story there was a theme. Each of us remembered feeling nervous and intimidated around seniors.

One day in study hall a few months into my freshman year, a senior, Katy Buddeke, came up to our table and asked us how our classes were going. She told us what to expect from freshman year and expressed that if we ever needed anything she would always help us. This really stuck with me and taught me what kind of senior I wanted to be.

Once we shared our own stories, the senior class decided we needed to bring freshmen and seniors together. We wanted to come up with a program where we could make friends with them and help them with the hardships that one experiences in their freshman year. We decided to create a new program for Northwest Academy that we wished we had as freshmen.

After consulting with friends from other schools, we learned that most of our friends had teacher advisors. Advisors help students with any social and educational issues. Since Northwest Academy doesn’t have a program like this with teachers, we decided to make it a program where seniors mentor freshmen.

Senior Safia Williams sent around a survey, identical for both freshmen and seniors that included a row of interests to check off such as cats, boy bands, photography and sports. Once they were filled out, we were matched with people who have similar interests.

Within the first two weeks of school, seniors saw their plan come to life. All freshmen and seniors gathered in the Plaza Building for a pizza lunch to meet their senior advisors. We played games like “circles of commonalities” and finally broke out into our advisory groups. Friendships were quickly formed and the seniors answered any questions that the freshmen asked.

Speaking on behalf of the senior class, we are all so excited for the upcoming year. We don’t want people to think of us as scary. In fact, we want to be a group of people that anybody can approach. We are planning some really fun all-school events that will hopefully bring our already tight-knit community even closer. Even though we will be busy with college applications and two theses, it is our goal this year to befriend each and every member of the Northwest Academy high school community.