No Longer The New Kid

No Longer The New Kid

By Lauren Snyder

Sentry Staff Reporter

The gut wrenching feeling of going to a new school is a familiar and unwelcomed part of the school year. The feeling feeds off of the fact that new students do not know their classmates and can only dream of powering through the first day without an incident. Being a transfer student is one of the most stressful times of a person’s life and rightfully so. To ease the transition at school, the transfer student mentor program was made.

Over the years, the school has received feedback that transfer students have had a difficult time adjusting to their new classes and peers. The Transfer Student Program was created to give the students a person to talk to and a number on their phone, not unlike the Freshman Mentor Program created a few years before.

To ease the adjustment, the transfer students are given a mentor that is their same grade level and would be able to contact them throughout the year and answer any questions that their mentees may have.

“To help the transfer students adjust, we help introduce them to each other and introduce them to other kids their age and our friends so that they can get acquainted with each other” said junior mentor Tyler Parker. “We also have meetings and breakfasts.”

The transfer student mentor program also gives the transfers a comfortable environment where they can open up and make friends with other students.

“[My mentor] has shown me around, she has helped everyone open up and talk” said senior transfer student Ty Matheny. “She helped me with opening up and getting out there.”

Ty Matheny is making the adjustment to Yorktown with help from the Transfer Student Program Photo by Claire DeCroix
Ty Matheny is making the adjustment to Yorktown with help from the Transfer Student Program
Photo by Claire DeCroix

Mentors meet with their students one every two weeks and keep in contact with them at least once a week to see how they are doing. And so far, the transfer students have been doing well.

“Right now I’ve been doing cross country” said Matheny. “I’ve been in anime club and I’ve been in Comic Arts Club.”

Clubs and other afterschool groups have also helped transfer students with the adjustment and the search for people that share similar interests.

Overall, the mentors are glad that they are able to help the adjustment process

“It’s been really great. I love being able to make new friends and to help being a transfer student seem a little less scary” commented junior mentor Alex Williams.

If you are interested in joining the transfer student mentor for next year, contact Ms. Wiedemann in room 249.

Note: I’m pretty limited in what I can write about. I don’t have any quotes yet since my interviews are happening later and I can only elaborate so far on the program before I have to make assumptions. I am hoping that my interviews with Dr. Pasi and the mentors can give me more information, and the mentees can give me more personal views on transferring to a different school.

Photo by Claire DeCroix

Story continues below advertisement
Leave a comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *