This year, Chester High School had its very first Freshman Academy. This is like Freshman Orientation just called Academy instead of Orientation. The students were given YONDR pouches and went through the school’s norms for the year. There were a lot of different things that the freshman got to do. Students from different clubs/sports such as Dance Team, NHS, Theater, and Student Council were asked to come in and help with the Academy as well as many of the teachers.
The Academy started with a presentation from Mr. Bleche about what the Academy will entail, the different rules of the school, the introduction of the admin, and more. It started with 4 different stations.
Station 1 was Q and A with Mr. Bleche, Mrs. Barton, and Mrs. Hawkins. They each introduced their role in the school and the things they are wanting to work on. Then the students were allowed to ask any question that they wanted to.
Station 2 was a presentation about dress codes, phones, and earbud policies. This presentation was given by Southern LaChance and was made by the student helpers and Mrs. Hankins.
Station 3 was another presentation about how to behave in classes and the rules of the classrooms. This presentation was given by Mrs. Hankins and made again by the student helpers and Mrs. Hankins.
Station 4 was a tour of the school given by Mrs. Hammel. This tour identifies all the freshman classes, the office, the student services, and multiple other places in the school.
After the stations, the students had lunch. The students were allowed to unlock their phones as if the school was actually in session.
Following lunch, the students went through their schedules to find their classrooms. They had 3 minutes passing periods and 2 minutes at each class. Then they went back into the 4 groups they were in and 2 of the groups went to learn the homecoming games and their class chant. The other two groups got tested on what they learned through the tour and finding their classes and did a scavenger hunt with the group leaders.
