First days of school can be hard for anyone, and they can feel even harder when you’re 14 years old, aimlessly wandering around a 25 acre school, just trying to figure out where the chapel is and why a secular school even has one.
To say my first day at Poly Prep was overwhelming would be an understatement. It was a day full of confusion, anxiety, and distress. This year, things have changed. Poly has implemented a new Freshmen orientation day, held a week before school starts, designed to ease those feelings of anxiety and help students feel more prepared. This orientation is an imperative measure to make sure that new students feel more comfortable and confident at school.
According to the Poly website, the school welcomes around 35 to 40 new Freshmen each year, meaning almost 28% of the ninth-grade class is new to the campus. Research shows that Freshmen orientation plays a crucial role in helping new students feel welcome. An article from The State Journal, the primary daily newspaper for Springfield Illinois, explains, “[High schools] found that these orientations gave students a sense of belonging, familiarized them with the building and overall reduced anxiety about starting high school.”
Sarah Bates, head of the Upper School, agrees. Therefore at the end of last school year, she, along with Dan Doughty, the head of the Middle School, and Jared Winson, the dean of students, worked together to devise a new form of orientation. According to Bates, this was a great success. “It went really, really well…and one of our 10th-grade [Student Government] reps was like, Ms. Bates, why didn’t we do this last year?”
Hearing this, I began to reflect on my first day at Poly and how I could have benefited from the orientation.
I was nervous but mostly excited; I was practically running out the door, as my dad was trying to get one more picture of me. After a bus ride that felt like hours, the only other new kid and I stood at the side entrance on seventh avenue when we stepped off the bus. We argued which entrance we should take to get into the school, neither of us realizing that we would end up at the same spot either way. As I walked into the building, I was handed the agenda for the day- first, 8:45 in the chapel. Ok, chapel, great!- what is that, and where do I go? I aimlessly walked in circles as my older brother’s advice rang in my ears: “Poly is a square, take four rights and you’re back where you started,” now on circle number three, I thought to myself, “really helpful, thanks Charlie.”
By the end of the day I was in tears. I was overwhelmed and worried that I wasn’t ‘extroverted’ enough to belong and by choosing to go to Poly, I’ve set myself up for failure for the next four years. I carried this mindset all throughout my Freshmen year and mainly stuck to myself. It wasn’t until sophomore year when I met some of my best friends that I finally felt as if I truly belonged here.
More than 400 high schools in New York City conduct some version of a Freshman orientation and have found great success. According to TeensHealth, orientation is a great opportunity for Freshmen to make friends, familiarize themselves with the school, and realize that they are not alone in their feelings of anxiety. By doing this, the adjustment to Freshman year lasts about one month, rather than one year.
When I was a Freshman, I thought the year-long adjustment period was a normal part of high school. However, I now realize that this year-long adjustment period was completely unnecessary. Fortunately, Poly seems to be heading in the right direction. Introverted Freshman, Avery Canino, went to the Freshmen orientation and described how orientation day went. “In the beginning, they didn’t really tell us where to go… I was so lost, and I didn’t know where I was going, and there were just so many people.” Although the orientation day started off hard, as the day went on, things improved for Canino. “I ended up sitting with a few new kids, and I started following them for the rest of it…then we made a group chat that day!” Canino continued on to explain that without the orientation, her school life would look totally different. “I honestly would have been by myself the whole week.”
Every student, extroverted or not, deserves to feel a sense of belonging at a high school they worked so hard to get into. However, without an orientation, these students start their first year feeling alone and anxious. It seems as though this new style of orientation has already positively impacted students’ experiences as new Freshmen; therefore, Poly should continue to hold Freshmen orientation in the future, in order to make all students, new and old, feel welcome.