MEEKER | The transition from eighth grade to freshman year is one of the hardest to make. Not only do classes and grades drastically change, so does the whole social atmosphere. To help accommodate with the big jump, Meeker High School’s National Honor Society (NHS), has created a program to help the incoming freshman.
Addie Joy, a senior and current NHS president, came up with the idea to try out the program L.E.A.N, which stands for Loyalty, Excellence, Attitude and Nurture. The juniors and seniors who qualified to be in NHS are paired with one or more freshman students that became their buddy. The goal is to be someone that the underclassmen can trust to come to for help on homework, or advice on how they managed to make it through freshman year. The “big buddies” are encouraged to check in with their freshman whenever they feel the need to. Members of NHS also encourage their buddies to reach out if they ever need help or extra advice with something.
After talking to some freshman I decided that this program has helped them, more than I initially thought. The people that I talked to thought the program not only helped with school related problems such as grades or maybe homework, but also with the stress of jump between the two schools. One freshman said that the program is good for the kids that don’t have friends that are upperclassman, so having a buddy that’s already gone through this already is a big stress reliever. Another said that it’s helpful to have someone so that they don’t end up feeling overwhelmed and when they do, they can go to their buddy for a pep talk and advice on how to not feel so overwhelmed.
I also talked to some upperclassman in NHS to hear their thoughts on the program. Most said they would have benefited from this experience their freshman year. Whether it was help on how to manage grades or advice on the social aspect of high school. There were some who said their freshman year was pretty manageable and didn’t think they would have benefited from this program. That being said, there are still a lot of kids that this program would have helped if they had it two or three years ago.
Hearing from both sides of the program made me wonder if this program is here to stay, or if it is just a one time thing. When I asked this question both freshman and NHS members said that they would like to see this program continue on in Meeker High School. Overall, the freshman that I talked too came to a consensus, that if it helped them, they don’t see why it wouldn’t help the incoming freshman of 2020. NHS members seemed to agree with this thinking, saying that they would like to see the outcome of this program in the future and hopefully make a positive impact on Meeker High School.
By SOPHIA GOEDERT | Special to the HT
