Being the new kid in school can be tough. Facing a sea of unfamiliar faces while trying to navigate crowded hallways can be intimidating, especially in a high school with more than 2000 students.
Fortunately, there's help out there. Several years ago, Brian Griggs, who works at Fort Rich, came up with the idea of a class to help new students transition into school.
"Initially it was an assignment at work, and it's grown from that as a research project," explained Griggs. "A friend of mine from Hawaii and I went and researched for a couple of years, traveling all over the US, attending conferences and visiting different schools, and created the format of the class out of ideas from several different resources."
Students new to Bartlett enroll in the class for one quarter. Lessons include "Introduction to Bartlett" and stress management. Students also learn how to prepare for college and a career. One unique aspect of PACE is that the class is run by both students and teachers. Peer facilitators, students who are interviewed for the position, teach lessons and games. There are several "Super Saturdays" throughout the year to train new facilitators. Otherwise, says PACE teacher Rebecca Vano, student facilitators mostly learn as they go.
"We usually make sure the first units they teach they're paired up," Vano explained. "They teach units in pairs so they're always paired up with somebody that's been around for a while and knows what they're doing. At the beginning of the year, we generally have a week with no new students where we do some trainings, but after that, we just have students coming in so regularly, and because the class is all one period we don't really have any way to fit special training in."
It's easy to see the connection new students have with the facilitators. At a recent lunch party, held in their classroom, PACE members stopped by throughout the hour to eat and talk with Griggs, Vano, and fellow students. Becci Haines, a senior at Bartlett who has been a facilitator for two years, says the friendly atmosphere is the result of key interactions in class.
"A lot of kids that have come in they've been really quiet," said Haines. "They don't like Bartlett at first, and then after we've kind of loosened them up, kind of played some games, and gotten to know them better, they seem to like Bartlett a lot more. We're kind of a circle of friends that they can join, and we make it really, really welcome for them."
Vano says many new students end up returning as facilitators themselves.
"We have a lot of students who've told us that it made a big difference for them, and who've become facilitators themselves after being new students in the program, because they liked it so much."
Also, Griggs points that out personal growth is not limited to new students. Facilitators say they also learn important lessons throughout the year.
"There have just been awesome changes that have happened," said Griggs. "Lots of our facilitators were new students at some point, and the change that's come about in facilitators, and the growth that they've had, how prepared they are for college. We had a student come back a couple weeks ago that graduated last year. He's in college now. And his message to all the facilitators was just about how much it makes a difference in being prepared for college, and how much it helped him to grow up and be prepared for things that were going to come up, and to do presentations in class, and to take on leadership roles in the college environment that he's in now.
Reaching out to new students
