This August, about 400 freshmen piled into the stands of the gym and had an exciting day with Link Crew. This was Wilson’s second year participating in Link Crew, and I had the privilege of being a part of it for both years. For those of you upperclassmen who have never been a part of Link Crew, it is an international program with the aim of creating a welcoming and supportive environment for incoming freshmen. The year kicks off with the orientation, which is a four-hour event where freshmen and Link Leaders play games, get to know each other, where the leaders share advice, and leaders give a tour of the building.
Link Crew also hosts event throughout the year. The events are for the freshmen and their Link leaders. The first event of the year is a tailgate that happens before the first home game of the season. They also hold other events like, studying parties before midterms and finals and holiday parties. With Link Crew being new to Wilson, there are a lot of other opportunities that could be organized and tweaked. When I talked to Ethan Davis, a sophomore, about Link Crew events, he said, “Wait. There were events?” After the freshman orientation, there was lots of buzz about it. Eric Vetovich, a freshman, was very vocal on how he felt about his experience, “I didn’t know where any of my classes were. The whole point [of orientation] was to help get to my classes and I couldn’t find one!” This theme was repeated with every freshman I talked to. Maya Serres a freshman said something very similar, “I thought their advice was really good and they made me feel more comfortable. It just made you feel more welcome, but their tours were not the best.” One issue with orientation could also be the lack of food. I know many freshmen came because they thought food would be served. Matthew Kidd, another freshman, said, “We spent four and a half hours in there during our summer vacation. The least they could have done was get pizza or give us a dollar each for the vending machine.” Although there was food last year, the tour situation was the same. Ethan Davis also said, “It was okay. [The orientation] did a decent job of what it was trying to do, but I would have preferred it if they spent more time... well, less time trying to introduce us to everyone and more time just [saying,] ‘This is where your class is. This is what you do in it.’ Kind of in and out quick.” This year, there was also a shortage of Link leaders and that could easily be explained by how long the training is. I had scheduling difficulties because the wrong dates kept being sent out and corrected over and over again. They are notorious for this. I went to a school that had a Link Crew program, and as a freshman, I thought it was pretty cool. I was still new to the school and getting to know people and hearing the upperclassmen’s honest advice was really helpful. One thing that they did that I would suggest for Wilson is they had all the teachers in the building and spent 40 minutes doing a mock first-day run so you went through all your classes, spending five minutes in each class. That way, you knew where all of your classes were and who your teachers were on the first day of school. For our school’s second run through, it wasn’t too shabby. I hope more freshmen and Link leaders get to experience this in the future.
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Lauren DavisWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |