Dressed in gray and maroon T-shirts identifying them as student mentors, Kelley Williams and Lauren Peters stood in an Argo Community High School hallway last week as younger students, nervously clutching class schedules, waited to ask for directions to their classrooms, their lockers and the gym. The pair eased the students’ anxiety as they pointed them in the right direction.
For the first time, Argo scheduled a special day of school for freshmen only. As the freshmen poured off the bus, they were greeted by the high school band playing the Argonauts’ school song.
“It was weird. I couldn’t believe the band was playing,” said freshman Karoline Truchan of Justice. “It felt like they were really open to having us in the school.”
Classes for upperclassmen began the next day.
Ashley Madonia, a junior from Summit, and Alex Bavry, a senior from Justice, were among the student mentors who helped plan the activities for the freshmen.
“We had to think back to when we were freshmen and what would have helped us,” Madonia said, noting that she remembers feeling intimidated and nervous around upperclassmen.
“Hopefully, this will be a really good experience, and they will feel a lot better about their high school experience than they did going into it,” Bavry said.
Activities director David Brady suggested the idea. Mentors, he said, will continue to guide freshmen through the academic year.
As the school day wrapped up, the students were treated to a little pep assembly. Mentors tossed them T-shirts reading “Argo Class of ’08” as they filed into the gym to hear a motivational speaker talk about making the most of their high school years.
Jackie Kapusnik of Bridgeview had begun to relax.
“I had nightmares about finding my classes,” she said. “Now I feel like I will be able to find them tomorrow.”
