Link Crew is a group of dedicated upperclassmen who meet in the Media Center to mentor freshmen, offering guidance and support as they navigate the transition into high school.
Advisor Ashley Harbecke said, “The club advisors are Ms. George and I. We do have people that are on an executive board, so we have different commissioners. Link Crew is a way to link the freshmen, coming from middle school over, into our high school. Everybody who is involved in the Link Crew are juniors and seniors, and they become mentors to the whole freshman class. We always start with an orientation with them the first day of school, and then we have different events. We invite them all to a football game, and then the Link Crew members feel welcome, included, and like they know what they’re doing.”
Harbecke added, “Our biggest meetings are during the summer. We hold them right before school starts, which is when our big training begins. We’re probably going to have a meeting about once a month, just to kind of keep going with our students. No one can join the club once the year has started. They have to join in May, and are invited to join by their teachers. Anybody who is not invited can still apply for it, but there is a tryout system to get into it.”
According to Harbecke, “Last year was our first year of Link Crew. Associate Principal Villalobos asked Mr. Camacho, Ms. George, and I, since we all work with freshmen, and we wanted to make them feel more comfortable with the school. Our meetings in the summer look like a seven-hour day. There are about 100 Link Crew members, and everybody works in small groups. They do a lot of team building and ‘getting to know you’ activities. [This helps them get] ready to get the freshmen they are going to get, and lead them through team building. It is a lot of demonstration, practicing and modeling, and learning to be able to teach it.”
According to Freshman Max Morales, “I expected the first day to be very stressful, but it ended up being very welcoming. Something that stood out was getting to school, and walking towards the gym, that was pretty cool.”
Morales said, “I just asked my friends for help. I didn’t have any trouble with getting to classes, because we had a pretty lenient time. All of my teachers were welcoming and they all greeted me nicely.”
Senior Antonio Carrera said, “Link Crew is kind of like a program or club where we help introduce the freshmen into the school and how the school operates. As a Link Crew leader, we all help each other. This year we did tours, showed them around the school and showed them what their classes are going to be. We also helped them do icebreakers so they could get to know each other, in order to make them feel at home so that they don’t feel alone at school.”
Senior Abby Osornio said, “I would say our role is to set a good example for upcoming freshmen so that they can go ahead and do the same thing we are doing, and to help use their knowledge to help others and to help our community grow stronger.”
Morales said, “Some advice I’d give to upcoming freshmen would be to try to make new friends quickly. Because if you don’t have any friends, and you make new friends, it will make high school better. Or at least that’s how it went for me.”