Every year, multitudes of freshmen are unceremoniously thrust into high school, left to fend for themselves with a multitude of questions, ranging from social to academic.
The answer to this issue has come in the form of a mentoring program, a process in which select seniors visit freshmen intermittently throughout the year to monitor and assist their adjustment to high school. However, the program could do more to meet its full potential.
As freshmen navigate their first year, it becomes increasingly clear to them that the guidelines set for an “average” high school student are nearly impossible to follow to a tee. Schedules conflict, homework piles up, social cliques form and things are generally rather different from how they were in middle school.
This is where the senior mentor program falls short.
Upon attending these sessions as a freshman and transfer student, I was filled with questions on how to integrate myself into a near-completely unfamiliar community. Instead of finding the answers to these issues, I found that the curriculum given to the senior mentors was mostly common knowledge. I was advised not to pull all-nighters, to join some extra-curriculars and to work hard for the entirety of my four years in high school.
It’s not that the points the mentors gave were invalid or unrelated to school; rather, they were vague and failed to address more specific and complex questions that freshmen need answers for.
Many freshmen want to know how to pull all-nighters if they do become necessary. Athletes want to know how to balance a heavy schedule. Writers and artists want to know what extra opportunities are available. Freshmen just generally need help adjusting.
Instead of addressing these issues, the program covers little more than the bare basics of high school.
While the senior mentor program is a good and helpful idea in theory, there are gaps in its execution and application. Hopefully the continuation of the program will allow it to further develop and better fulfill its intended purpose.