BHS to start new LINK program

A brand new mentoring program is scheduled to begin next year at Baldwin High School. It is called Link and it is for juniors and seniors to mentor incoming freshman, transfer students and foreign students. Currently the teachers are looking for 26 students. They need two link crew leaders for 8-10 new incoming students. They will help with Freshmen First day and help if any problems with their small group arise during the school year.

Counselor Melody Hoffsommer, science teachers Melissa Strother and Nikki Burnett are in charge of Link Crew.

“Mr. Moseman wrote a grant to send us to go to Connecticut for a Link Conference,” Hoffsommer said. “It was from Sunday to Wednesday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.”

This is the first year for the program so they are still learning how everything should be set up.

“This first year is the trial year, we are going to keep it simple and hopefully the program will grow in years to come,” Hoffsommer said.

The mentors are required to go to a training day on Aug. 17 where they will learn and prepare for the year. They will also be required to be at freshmen first day on Aug. 18 as well as the first dance of the school year. Being required to be at school two full days before the school year starts does not stop students from wanting to be involved.

“Yes, I want to be involved, it will be fun to help the freshmen get adjusted and for freshmen who don’t have older siblings in high school it is harder for them to adjust because they don’t have connections in high school,” sophomore Hayley Schwartz said.

“Yes, I want to because it will be a good experience for us and the new incoming students,” sophomore Adrienne Strobel said.
Some of the students in high school were in junior high when they started the program, W.E.B. which stands for “Where Everyone Belongs.” Link is the same program as WEB, it is just for high school students instead.

The leaders will get to know their 8-10 students in the group and be available to answer questions all year. There might be an issue with attendance and that is where the leader will be told of the problem and they can talk one-on-one with the student rather than have a teacher scold them for not showing up.

Students commented on if they wish the program was up and running when they were freshmen.

“I personally wouldn’t have needed it because I knew what to expect but people who didn’t have siblings would have like it,” Schwartz said.

“I wish I had someone there telling me some of what to expect but I was able to learn a lot by learning on my own,” sophomore Clint Chapman said.

The main purpose of the program is making freshmen, foreign students and transfer students feel part of the school and knowing some upperclassmen before the school year begins.

Story by Claire Peterson, BHS Journalism