by Anju Ito, Staff Writer, and John Le, Staff Photographer
The annual Link Crew orientation took place on Aug. 22-23, a week before the start of the 2016-2017 school year. The class of 2020, led by the Link Crew leaders, was given a tour of Fountain Valley High School (FVHS). Freshmen were able to make new friends and obtain a way to keep in touch with their group leaders, which was a new system introduced to Link Crew this year.
In previous years, the Link leaders and their groups mainly asked questions and interacted only for the orientation day, as there was not much opportunity to get to know each other closely and keep in touch.
However, starting from this year, the Link Crew team and the Assistant Principal of Supervision Marc Trocchio devised a plan to keep freshmen involved in high school and extend the Link Crew program. Link leaders were advised to share their contacts and social media with the freshmen, thus enabling the freshmen to ask questions and to have updates throughout the school year on exclusive Link Crew events designed to ease freshmen into high school.
“Freshmen can get the help they need to adjust to FVHS and attend a lot of events without the fear of going alone,” said Jessica Dang (‘17).
Freshmen started out their morning being greeted by a tunnel leading into the gym which consisted of Link Crew leaders, Associated Student Body (ASB) members and cheerleaders. Cori Rainer, teacher and Link Crew coordinator, came out to give freshmen an insight on the orientation and about their future in high school.
Later, students and Link leaders then separated into their own individual groups where they did bonding activities and shared contacts with each other. The leaders then took the group for a tour around campus. The orientation ended with students receiving their schedules and learning new cheers from ASB.
Although most of the freshmen cooperated and had fun during the Link Crew orientation, Link Crew leaders also noticed that some refused to participate and preferred to stay on their phones.
“Even with the help of around three other link crew leaders, we were unable to get our kids to be enthusiastic about any activities during Link Crew,” said Dang (’17).
Link Crew coordinators have confirmed that they will try and fix the problem for the next Link Crew orientation. However, Link Crew orientation overall had provided a way to make most freshmen feel more comfortable about their upcoming four years at FVHS.
“[Waking up early] was tiring but it was worth it. I got to know new friends and meet with my group,” said Jacob Dahl (‘20).
