WHS welcome wagon
Peer mentors give incoming freshmen support
WOONSOCKET — The high school’s incoming class of freshmen were treated to a welcome program on Tuesday, aimed at easing their transition from middle school to high school life.
The members of the high school’s Class of 2021 were greeted at the door of the school by an assembly of the peer mentors, who will be helping them make the adjustment as freshmen when the school opens just for them on Aug. 30.
Tuesday was a chance for the students to learn where they would be going on that first day and also to start familiarizing themselves with the school’s three levels of classrooms, core facilities, gym and cafeteria.
The peer counselors, many of them tenth-graders and juniors, took small groups of the freshmen and their families around the school as part of the welcome program’s intent to offer the underclassman some friendly faces to look for on opening day.
Chad Lamoureux, a history and social studies teacher at the school, said the welcome day program was intended to familiarize the students with the high
school and also to give them information on how the daily schedule will run. There was also a chance to meet students, advisers and coaches involved in the school’s extracurricular activities at booths set up in the school gym.
The welcome program, which spread out the tours over both day and evening sessions, is part of the school’s program to give students a better understanding of what will be expected of them as the newest members of WHS, Lamoureux noted.
“We have this really cool thing at the high school, Success 101, and it does a really good job of personalizing education for the students,” he explained.
The program is a special course that teaches the students the skills they need to set goals for their high school careers and also to carry them out, according to Lamoureux.
“The idea is to have one teacher work with a group of 12 to 14 kids so you can develop relationships in a non-academic setting,” he said.
The program also provides the time needed for students to work on a five-year study plan that run into post-high school.
If students know what they want to achieve during their high school years, they will have a better chance of reaching those goals, according to Lamoureux. Many of the students arrive at the school without special goals, and Success 101 inspires them to think about all the possibilities high school represents.
“I think it is a phenomenal program,” Lamoureux said.
It was clear that many of the former middle school eighth-graders walking the school’s corridors have some thinking ahead of them on what they want to accomplish over the next four years, but the students also displayed a bit of confidence, hinting that somehow it would all work out.
“It is a good idea and we’ll make sure we don’t get lost on the first day,” Nicholas Strojny, a freshman, said of the program while listening to Vice Principal Brian Bouley give pointers on making the most of the school’s offerings, as he sat with a classmate, Jayden Mello, his mother, Laurie Bergeron, and sister Sarah.
“It is also good to see who is going to be in your classes,” Strojny, a baseball player, said.
Mello, who is coming from the Hamlet Middle School building, said he hasn’t yet set a plan for his high school career and needs to look over class offerings to figure that out. “I like technology,” Mello said of a possible starting interest.
Nicholas’ mom, Laurie, graduated from the high school in 1992 and described the freshmen welcome program as a good improvement for the school.
“It is a nice community atmosphere here and I think that helps the parents too. It’s nice for parents to feel they are a part of their child’s school and their child’s school life,” Bergeron said. “We are all in this together.”
In the school’s gym on Tuesday, McKenzie Dutile, an incoming freshman, was being introduced to members of the school’s field hockey team. Other students could be found talking to members of the school’s music program, the SMILE Club, offering outdoor science programs; and other sports teams.
Dutile has a friend who is already on the field hockey team and said “she’s trying to talk me into joining it.” The student added that she probably would follow through and sign up.
“I think it is pretty cool here, you can walk around and find tables like this,” she said while looking over the field hockey gear on display at the team’s table.
“If you have never been to the high school before, you get a good look at what they have to offer,” she said.
Members of coach George Briggs’ cross country team were found manning a table for that sport and Briggs, entering his 45th year in coaching, was also on hand.
Already, about 36 students have signed up for the team and have been practicing with group runs setting out from the school at 7 a.m., Briggs noted: “It’s just nice to have some kids interested in the team and we are really excited about the season.”
One of the freshmen stopping by Tuesday evening was Evan DeMaire, a former middle school runner who is also working out with the team in the mornings.
“He did extremely well,” Briggs said of DeMaire’s running as an eighth-grader.
Charlie Bibeault, the new coach of the high school’s football team, was also looking for freshmen to sign up for football Tuesday evening. “We have a good mix of sophomores and juniors and some seniors,” Bibeault said of the team’s make-up thus far. Adding some freshmen will also help the team get ready for the new season, he added. “Right now we are at about 50 and I would want about 70, so hopefully we will get another 20 freshmen tonight,” he said.