Looking beyond a label
New high school students learn how to communicate despite their differences
Students learn to look past differences
PROVIDENCE – Years before graduating as the valedictorian of Shea High School’s Class of 2016, Patience Adegboyega had concerns about attending the high school located on Pawtucket’s west side. The school was entering a state-mandated transformation intervention, and Adegboyega admits she walked in as a freshman with a negative attitude.
But with the advantage of 20/20 hindsight, Adegboyega now says if she could tell her younger self one piece of advice before entering the walls of Shea High, it would be to go in with a positive attitude, because she worries that the negativity she had in arriving at Shea High potentially prevented her from reaching her full capability during her freshman year.
Thanks to the College Crusade of Rhode Island’s Passageways, Adegboyega – an alumna of the College Crusade program – said on Wednesday that she was hopeful to impart wisdom on the future high school students as they transition from junior high to high school.
Now a junior at Brown University, Adegboyega said the program helps students find the right resources in high school, aids with organizational and time management skills, encourages youths to escape from their comfort zones and try new things, and advises them that high school is nothing to be afraid of and that they shouldn’t be worried about asking for help.
“It’s OK to be scared, it is a transition. People come from all sorts of backgrounds and put on a brave face,” she said of moving up the ranks from middle school to high school. “It’s OK to be fazed and put on that brave face.”
Thirty-one incoming freshmen from Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Central Falls, and Cranston are participating in the week-long Passageways program at Central High School in Providence as they are making the effort to smooth the transition to high school.
Students entering the ninth grade participate in Passageways, an interactive program on how to make a successful transition to high school. The mission of the College Crusade of Rhode Island is to increase high school graduation, college and career readiness, and college completion for youth in Rhode Island’s low-income communities.
Among a group of Crusade Advisers who have been on campus all week to help guide the students and work with them through a variety of projects and exercises have been advisers from Shea High School, Tolman High School, Blackstone Academy Charter School, Central Falls High School, Hope High School, Cranston High School East, and Providence Career and Technical Academy.
Mike Neau, an adviser at Shea High and Blackstone Academy, said the entire week of programs serves as a “head start on freshman year.” The students, he said, learn a variety of subjects ranging from leadership skills and conflict resolution to how to treat one another.
“These are skills and traits to have and take into high school … The little things are big, they’re intangibles,” Neau said.
Lisa Minn, an adviser with Providence Career and Technical Academy, added that in a matter of four five-hour sessions, they hope to “give all the skills needed to be successful.”
The games and activities, Minn added, are energizing for the students and gives them a chance to interact with someone new, as they are often paired with someone they didn’t know before entering the Passageways program. By the end of the week, she said, the students will be more comfortable and feeling good about arriving at high school in a few weeks.
Marlene Martinez, the adviser for Tolman and Central Falls high schools, said a familiar face can go a long way for incoming freshmen.
“High school is difficult but it’s only as difficult as you make it. This helps make an easier transition and they can hit the ground running, making for a great foundation,” Martinez said.
The students, she said, can be somewhat shy and apprehensive on their first day in the program, but they often open up to one another and their advisers within only a day or two.
“It’s so quiet the first day … But now they’re talking to people and through that they’ve learned strengths...” she said. With so many of the incoming freshmen from Pawtucket or Central Falls schools, Martinez said: “It’s nice because they’re a sneeze away from a neighbor.”
In Martinez’s group of students on Wednesday morning, the teens were playing “what’s in a label,” where they had a job or title taped to their back and they had to guess who they were based on how their fellow students interacted with them. In discussing these experiences, the students explained how they felt, how the reaction they received may have changed their point of view, and how they’ll look at people in the future.
Seth Plourde, a Pawtucket resident who’ll be attending Tolman High this fall, said through his experiences at Passageways that he learned that high school “isn’t as tough as it seems to be. I was kind of nervous, but it’s not that bad.”
Alexis Flores, a Central Falls resident who will be an incoming freshman at Blackstone Valley Prep High School, said he was “taught to be more prepared for high school and be more organized so I’m set for high school. Before, I was a bit stressed and I wasn’t sure if I was ready.”
Central Falls resident Melanie Monroy, meanwhile, said that even though the week has been a successful one, she’s still a bit tentative about the future ahead and her first year at William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School.
“I’m still kind of nervous, but coming to the program helps prepare me with what I’m going to face,” she said, from class time to study time. “The stress should subside. The program helps you meet new people and I’m motivated to do more.”
Josh Corria, the associate director of high school operations with the College Crusade of Rhode Island, said getting the advisers in front of the students during the summer months, before they arrive for the first day of classes, offers an opportunity to build a trusting relationship.
“When the school year starts, it’s sometimes hard to build relationships with freshmen, but in the summer that’s when we do it,” Corria said.
Corria knows of the value the program has to offer, as he said his own transition from middle school to high school wasn’t one of fear but rather questioning what was to come.
“It’s worrying about the unknown. The kids look bigger and more mature, you go into high school … not knowing what to expect,” he said. “But this lets them know what to expect and what’s required, from classes to the expectations of teachers.”
“It’s knowing what to expect and not coming in blindly,” he said.