CMSD NEWS BUREAU

11/15/2018

Dozens of high school students from as far away as the Columbus area got together at the District’s East Professional Center on Thursday, playing games and meeting new friends.

The conference or summit was sort of a mixer for mentors. The 300 students participate in the Boomerang Project's Link Crew program, in which juniors and seniors work with ninth-graders and help them make the transition to high school.

CMSD’s Facing History New Tech High School served as host for the event, which convened students to learn and share practices. Principal Marc Engoglia adopted Link Crew three years ago after noticing a divide between the freshmen and upper grades, hardly fitting for a school that at its core is about inclusiveness.

This year, 22 Link Crew leaders work in twos with 10 Facing History ninth-graders, introducing them to the school, monitoring their grades, talking to them about making good choices and meeting weekly for lunch to discuss how things are going.

“Freshman year can be a struggle,” said Martha Verde, a teacher who accompanied Facing History's mentors to East. “We want to make sure they have every possible support in place.”

Besides Facing History, the conference drew students from Cleveland Central Catholic, Vermilion, Elyria, Kenston, Austintown Fitch and Franklin Heights high schools. Franklin Heights is located near Columbus. 

Kate Thomason, a Link Crew trainer from Portland, Ore., set the tone by leading activities and games like freeze tag and Simon Says. She purposely united visitors from different schools in the same way that mentors mesh with younger students at home.

Link Crew is designed to smooth what can be a tough adjustment, but Thomason said the mentors are part of something that extends way beyond the walls of their schools.

“Kids, now more than ever, need positivity and to encourage each other,” she said. “We just want to make the world a better place, one teenager at a time. It’s a shared vision of kindness.”

Facing History mentor Harry Rivera, a senior, said he had trouble fitting in during his first year in high school. That's why he tries to ensure that newcomers learn their way around and get involved.

“I like to help kids who are shy like me,” he said. “In ninth grade, I didn’t talk to anybody. I was really nervous.”

Franklin Heights High School, in its first year using Link Crew, took applications and picked about 70 students to guide 400 or so freshmen.

Teacher Erin Henschen said organizers purposely selected mentors from every possible group – athletes, band members, students who had experienced some trouble but learned lessons from it. Mentors were then matched with teenagers who had similar interests. Henschen said the intent was to ensure that students would walk into the school for the first time and instantly feel they belonged.

Like Facing History’s Rivera, Franklin Heights junior Madison Murry thinks back to her own time in ninth grade.

“It was nerve-racking – a whole bunch of new people, a new building,” she said. “I want to help freshmen be comfortable, so they know they are not alone.”

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