Link Crew, the national orientation and mentoring program, is now in its 13th year at West Hartford’s Hall High School.

By Ronni Newton

Members of the Class of 2027 were welcomed to Hall High School this year by a dedicated group of upperclassmen who applied to be selected and then volunteered as members of Link Crew, an international orientation and mentoring program that is now in its 13th year at Hall.

Approximately 350 new ninth-graders were welcomed on Monday, Aug. 28 by 73 junior and seniors who were accepted as Link leaders after applying last spring and attended a two-day training session the previous week so they would be ready to run the orientation program, ease the transition of the new students to high school, and prepare to be mentors throughout the school year.

“The goal of this first orientation day is to make connections between mentors and ninth graders as well as connections between the members of the Class of 2027 themselves,” said Christina Hunter, a math teacher at Hall and one of the Link Crew coordinators. “Link leaders shared successes and struggles that they encountered as new students and answered many academic, logistical and social questions from the incoming ninth graders.”

Orientation has a theme each year, and this year paid homage to Starbucks and other coffee shops, Hunter said, with “This Is How We Brew It” adorning the back of the Link Crew leaders’ t-shirts.

“Coffee puns appeared everywhere,” said Hunter – including “We love The Class of 2027 a latte!” and “We can’t espresso how excited we are to meet you!”

Orientation activities take place as one large group, but the students are also broken up into smaller groups that engage in ice breakers and take school tours and have conversations about making connections, joining clubs, and sharing successful habits for high school.

“As we find more and more students entering Hall from schools other than KP and Bristow middle schools, we tried to be mindful this year about how we arranged our orientation groups,” Hunter said. “Students from smaller middle schools or schools from outside the district may not have a single familiar face in their orientation groups if we randomize them. This year we grouped together transfer students so that they would have a mix of familiar faces from their small schools and meet new students with similar transfer experiences.”

In addition to Hunter, math teacher Darcie Hudson and Grade 9 school counselor Brianna Gasiewski serve as Link Crew coordinators this year.

Link Crew doesn’t stop with orientation. The program sets the tone for a successful year through email connections as well as follow up through academic and social activities.

Conard High School also instituted a Link Crew program a few years after Hall, and West Hartford’s middle schools use WEB (Where Everybody Belongs), a similar peer group orientation program founded by the same national company, for orientation of rising sixth graders.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.