Link, Web leaders provide welcome to new students

by Kathy Hara
North Crow River News

About 45 juniors and seniors will be starting school a little early when they show up at Rogers High School this morning.

The students are part of the Link Crew, and they will spend two days learning how to become "links" between middle school and high school for the incoming freshmen.

The first Link Crew was created in 1988 at a high school in California in response to the poor treatment of freshmen there by older students. Built on the belief that students could be the answer to the problem, they were enlisted in a year-long program to help the younger students feel comfortable in their school. Beginning with an interactive and lively orientation at the start of the school year, one or two Link leaders lead their group of nine or 10 freshmen in fun activities and thought-provoking discussions about what the new students should expect over the coming year. The leaders continue making contacts with their assigned students by way of academic, in-class follow-up lessons and social follow-up activities throughout the year.

The strength of the program is in the fact that it is a year-long transition program. Other parents and educators quickly saw the value of it and initiated the program in their own schools. In 2003, more than 400,800 freshmen were welcomed into high school by members of the Link Crew.

"Last August I saw an article [about Link Crew] in the Anoka County Union," said Rogers High School teacher Ann Froemming. "I read it and read it. I said, we've got to do this."

So Froemming began applying for grants to cover the costs of attending the training sessions at Ft. Charles, Ill. , and received one from the Three Rivers Community Fund. Principal Jana Hennen-Burr saw to it that teacher Debbie McDonald had the funds to receive the training, as well.

At the same time, unbeknownst to the high school teachers, Rogers Middle School teachers Lori Tukey and Julie Williams were following a parallel path with Web, a transition program for sixth-graders coming into middle school. Tukey and Williams were a little more fortunate in their training, however, as those classes were in California .

"It was through grant money," said Tukey, "not from public money. And we need to continue to get money from grants for training, travel and starting up the program." The initial grant for Rogers Middle School training came from the Northwest Suburban Integration project.

Other than having their training paid for, though, the Rogers teachers are receiving no pay for any extra time they spend on the Link and Web programs and, in fact, used their personal vacation time to attend the training classes.

The 45 juniors and seniors in the Link program and the 75 eighth-graders in the Web program were all chosen by application and teacher recommendation. "We looked for a variety, from straight-A students to gothic," said Tukey. "Our mission is for kids coming in to see that you can be who you are."

Separately, both the Link and Web students will learn about being program leaders in 4-hour sessions two days in a row. Then they will put their skills to the test.

For the high school crew, all freshmen and students new to the district will report to the field house Thursday, Aug. 12, for a big pep fest and team-building activities. Then they will break into pre-selected groups of 10, and the Link Crew will lead them through activities. "The freshmen will think they are games," said McDonald, "but there is a purpose." Then the leaders will take their groups on a tour of the school. After a picnic, the parents will arrive for freshman orientation.

Initial plans for the year include special T-shirts for the Link Crew to wear on the first day of school, and possible tailgating parties at homecoming, to which Link leaders will be encouraged to invite freshmen.

The idea is to have Link leaders make contact with their charges, through phone calls or seeing them at school. Especially in the first three or four weeks, said Froemming, the kids need to find a connection.

Orientation for the sixth-graders will be the entire first day of school, with two Web leaders being in charge of eight students. "We're going to hook up Web with Advisory," said Tukey. "We're hoping once or twice a month, instead of being in regular Advisory classrooms, they'll meet with their Web groups."

The biggest difference between Link and Web, said Tukey, is that Web is geared more toward sixth-graders.

"It's unjustified," said Williams, "but kids coming into middle school worry about being shoved into lockers. They worry about getting their locker unlocked, getting from one side of the school to the other, being shoved out of line, dealing with the independence of going from one class to another."

The job of Link and Web leaders is to make high school and middle school more comfortable for the youngest students. And in the process, said Williams, the leaders may make better choices in their own behavior because they were chosen to be role models.

"It gives the older kids compassion for the younger," said McDonald. "I think they said during training, regarding how much violence there is, that you can't hate someone whose story you know."