On August 14, the class of 2028 went through Freshmen Only Day at North in preparation for their high school journey. Supervised by a select group of admin, students a part of Link Crew led the freshmen through a series of activities as well as a complete tour of the school.

“I know most freshmen are timid for the first few weeks before they find their core group,” Matthew Holmes, assistant principal and Link Crew advisor, said. “Now at least they have a positive role model they can talk to.”

After a welcome by the Link Crew team, the freshmen were put into small groups where they participated in games that allowed them to meet their fellow peers and learn advice about high school. After all,“You can learn from your mistakes and that you should prioritize your mental health over your academics,” Robert Denning (‘28) stated. 

When lunch finished, freshmen were able to have the rest of the day to use their schedules and find their classes with a modified bell schedule. 

“I thought it went way better than we expected,” Holmes said. “Since it’s our first year (of Link Crew), we anticipated there being a lot of rooms where kids weren’t talking or leaders that kind of looked out of place, but everyone was awesome.”

Link Crew leaders dedicated two days of their summer to prepare for the freshmen’s first day. Made up of upperclassmen, the Link Crew were able to create an advice sheet that gave insight to the new class. “Everyone is so worried about messing up that they’re focusing more on themselves than other people,” Jeffrey Wright (‘26), a Link Crew leader, said. 

To prepare for the event, Holmes and Jen Kirk attended a district paid trip to a conference last February in coalition with the Boomerang Project, which provides training for leaderships like Link Crew and Where Everybody Belongs (WEB). This training gave the admin a way to give a welcome for Ninth Grade Orientation, incorporating students and teachers.