Josh Mayer

Link Crew Re-Application

Grade 11 Hall High School

Though I do believe that last year’s 9th grade orientation went quite well, I think there are

a couple changes we could make to improve the experience of the incoming freshmen and even

let the upperclassmen have a bit more fun!

For starters, I wanted to talk a little about doing more activities related to sports.

Freshmen - most, if not all - love to play sports. I believe that by introducing more sports related

activities into orientation, we can increase the engagement and participation of the incoming

freshmen. Freshmen are competitive and definitely have a lot of energy, so sports would be a

great way for them to have some competition and release their energy. I have thought of a few

activities we could do in the gym, but there are definitely more if we brainstorm. For example,

we could do a game with basketballs which would be similar to what was played at the 2nd pep

rally of this school year. Additionally, we could play a game with gator balls where students

throw the ball around the gym to different people, and whoever catches it must introduce

themselves to the thrower. This activity would most likely be done with everyone, but the

basketball game may need to be conducted with just asking for freshmen to volunteer. These

ideas are still in progress, but I do believe we can increase the overall engagement and

participation of the incoming freshmen by adding more sports to the orientation.

Another change I would make to orientation is making it just a bit shorter. I, for one, had

no problem with the amount of time we were at school for. However, in my small group, I found

that the incoming freshmen were constantly checking their phones and asking “when will this be

over.” I feel in some spots of orientation there was a lack of brevity, which bored the incoming

freshmen as they have short attention spans. If we made activities shorter so they had something
to look forward to quite soon after starting another thing, we may see more participation and

overall engagement.

To go back to the topic of sports, I had a few ideas of what events we could hold for the

incoming freshmen. Like I said before, most if not all freshmen love sports so, once again, I

think that is the answer. I was thinking we could do a big sports game (or multiple smaller ones)

a couple times a year. For example, we could hold a freshmen kickball game or capture the flag

on one of the fields. Other ideas could be ultimate frisbee, ultimate handball, and other smaller

games we could play all at the same time. We could have other games like cornhole and can jam

out as well so freshmen can pick and choose what games they play. I think it would be super fun,

and because it would be an event based around sports, I am sure many freshmen would be

inclined to attend.

Another idea of an event could be holding a freshman talent show. We could hold this in

the auditorium and freshmen would sign up a couple weeks in advance. On the day of the talent

show, students would come and perform and audience members would range from freshman to

seniors to even parents, though the performers would be only freshmen. The event could be free,

or cost a couple dollars, but I think it would have better attendance by the freshmen class if it did

not cost money.

I hope these ideas helped and that we can incorporate them into our program in the

future! I can’t wait to see what next year has in store for us!