Grade 9 students follow their leader at local high schools

A program introduced at Superior Heights for the 2014-2015 school year hopes to relieve anxiety for grade nine students and offer them mentorship from older students who were in their shoes just a few years earlier.

The program is called Link Crew and has been in place for a number of years at St. Basil and St. Mary’s Catholic high schools, and Superior Heights and White Pines have added the program for this school year, said Marnie Tarantini, school attendance social worker.

“Coming into Grade 9 is very scary for a lot of students. They worry a lot about the size of the building and meeting friends and get very intimidated. Today we are hoping to break down some of the barriers and get to know some of the grade twelves,” she said.

Tarantini said this year, students and staff have also taken a “natural high” oath, promising not to take drugs and alcohol, which will be in effect during the upcoming East-West football game.

“The East-West game has gotten a negative rap due to the alcohol problems down there and a lot of parents are refraining from allowing their Grade 9 and 10 students from attending,” she said.

Tarantini said Superior Heights wants to recreate what the game used to be about - families coming together to watch a football game and have a good time - and she expects the older students to lead by example.

The Link Crew program is a year-long commitment and matches every Grade 9 student in the school with a pair of Grade 11 or Grade 12 Link Crew Leaders.

Each mentoring pair looks after about 8-10 Grade 9 students and those leaders had to go through a selection process to enter the program.

“This is our first year. To sustain the program we have Grade 11 leaders who are trained and next year will train new leaders,” said Tarantini.

More than 80 Grade 11 and 12 students applied for the 40 leader positions.

The students were paired Tuesday morning, with the Grade 11 students giving a tour of the school to the younger students.

“It makes me feel a lot better because I know I can go to someone for help,” said Grade 9 student Brandon Pickering after Tuesday’s event.