'Link Crew' for Banning High Freshmen

More than 200 Banning High freshmen are partnered this school year with 60-plus juniors and seniors in a mentoring program to help ease youngsters' transition from middle to high school.

The "Link Crew" program launched Aug. 24, the day before the first day of classes at Banning High, said Natalie Crine, the school's associated student body and activities director.

New students entered the gym "looking a little overwhelmed and shocked," Crine said.

There was booming music, enthusiastic Link Leaders, and a few school staff – all decked out in Link Crew t-shirts, Crine said.

"After this opening assembly, the freshmen went with their pre-assigned Link Leaders to a classroom where the juniors and seniors completed a handful of activities with their 'crew,'" Crine said. "They got to know one another, shared meaningful life stories, and made connections with one another."

Over the next three days, Crine said, she noticed a transformation in the new students and in the upperclassmen.

"The juniors and seniors were impeccable leaders and I couldn’t have asked for things to go more perfectly," Crine said. Most importantly, the freshmen seemed to have gained confidence from their older peers, Crine said.

"As I was conducting the closing assembly, words can’t describe the light I saw in their eyes," Crine said. "They were just as enthusiastic and pumped up as my Link Leaders were. We ended the day by each and every one of them jumping out of their seats in the bleachers shouting their commitment to graduate with their class in the year 2015.

"It was an incredible day and the entire process moved me to tears," Crine said. "It just made me so happy. . . . These kids never cease to amaze me."

The Link Crew program will be continuing throughout the coming academic year with activities and Link Leader-led lessons in freshmen classes, Crine said.

"The transition from middle school to high school is one of the most daunting and difficult challenges teenagers face," Crine said. "They are facing a lot more pressure and they are forced to take responsibility for themselves and their own education."

Research has shown that if students make it successfully through their first year, they have much higher chances of graduating.

To learn more about the Link Crew program, visit, www.boomerangproject.com.

For more information about Associated Student Body activities at Banning High, visit asb-and-student-government.banning.bhs.