Home

Steamboat Springs — As a freshman at Steamboat Springs High School three years ago, Victoria Lavington was in a new school with few friends.

"Having moved from Lima, Peru, I was definitely very new," said Lavington, 17, who was one of 29 juniors and seniors who helped create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere Wednesday for the school's latest group of freshmen.

"Through (freshman orientation) I found it a lot easier to make friends and just way easier to fit into high school life, and to learn where everything was with the help of the Link leaders," she said. "I knew that I wanted to be that same person to help that new kid."

The upperclassmen, called Link leaders, have volunteered several days of their summer - and many more hours to come - to make freshmen feel at home in their new school.

The program, called Link Crew, originated in California in 1988 to address hazing and other problems commonly experienced by freshmen.

"It's about making a positive transition from middle school to high school," said Lucianne Myhre, who introduced the Link Crew program to Steamboat four years ago with former teacher Chad Bowdre.

"The idea of it is that when freshmen go to high school, they are already connected to an upperclassman," she said. "And by already being connected to the school, they have less of a chance to join the dropout rate, less failures like failing grades, because they are already connected."

On Wednesday, freshmen rushed onto the basketball court at the high school, flanked by cheering Link leaders as rock music blared overhead.

Once assembled on the gym floor, Bowdre acted as the orientation's master of ceremonies, leading freshmen through a series of team-building and friend-building exercises. Eventually, the stud-ents broke into smaller groups for activities with their Link Crew leaders.

"(Link leaders) care about you and they want you to be successful in high school," Bowdre told the group of almost 200 freshmen. "When you can't find that biology class and you see one of them come from around the corner, you can ask one of them. These guys here are so excited for you to be successful."

Each of the 29 leaders was paired with a group of five to seven freshmen.

"After this, they have social follow-ups and academic follow-ups throughout the school year with their Link leaders," said Myhre, who explained the Link leaders were nominated by teachers to be part of the Link Crew program.

"The upperclassmen open up and share their own school experiences," she said. "The hope is that they are positive examples so (the freshmen) can make responsible choices in high school."

Senior Erin Lewis remembers her freshman orientation like it was yesterday. Part of the experience is dressing up in costume to tour the school.

"We all dressed up as rock stars and I had the most amazing glasses," said Lewis, 17, who noted her group will tour the school in toga outfits.

She added that as a Link Crew leader, she hopes to make a difference with the freshman class.

"I know a lot of the kids that were really close with their Link leaders," Lewis said. "I think it's important for them to have someone to come to if they have a problem."

- To reach Mike McCollum, call 871-4208

or e-mail mmccollum@steamboatpilot.com