Drake Welcomes Students with New Back-to-School Week

Her freshman year at , Mackenzie Greene got booed at orientation.

“It was a pretty bad experience,” the now junior said. Her freshman class didn’t know the school cheer and, when it came time to perform in the start of the year pep rally, they simply mumbled and whispered their way through it. The other classes booed the new students.

But, with a new start of the year program rolled out last week at Drake, gone are the days of confused and beleaguered freshmen.

“We were really frustrated we didn’t have the mechanisms in place to make the freshman really feel welcome,” said Assistant Principal Eric Saibel.

Under the leadership of teacher Kendall Galli, Drake rolled out a whole program of events for the first week under the acronym PIRATES: Passion, Integrity, Reflection, Attitude, Teamwork, Empathy, and Scholarship.

Instead of simply sending students off to class on the first day last Wednesday, Aug. 17, school started with an all-freshman assembly while the sophomores, juniors and seniors met in their advisory groups for goal-setting and team building. The older students then made a gauntlet for the freshmen to run through as a “symbolic welcome,” said Saibel. Link Crew leaders (older students who serve as mentors) led students in activities like name games, team-building activities, and trust falls, said Senior Link Crew member Brennan Duff.

After a BBQ lunch provided by parents on the first day, all the students listened to inspirational speaker David Roche and participated in a school rally.

The week was capped off with performer David Garibaldi on Thursday, who encouraged students to follow their passion, and more activities with their advisory groups. Students are grouped into advisories as freshman and will then spend their four years with those groups.

“The main goal was to have a first day of school that didn’t feel like a first day of school,” said Duff.

The idea for the new program started, said Saibel, with a questioning of how school starts and trying to figure out a way to combat a societal image of freshmen being at the bottom of the totem pole in high school. Galli worked to put together events and activities that would promote leadership, school spirit and positive attitudes. Last spring, the plan was presented to the staff, who voted on it.

“The response was incredibly strong,” said Saibel.

The Monday before school started, the staff spent three hours getting training in running the teamwork and goal-setting activities for their students.

And it appears to have paid off.

Over 80 percent of the students, said Saibel, stayed on campus for the first day BBQ lunch, even though many of them frequently go off-campus at lunchtime. Both Duff and Greene, who is also a Link Crew leader now, said the students really enjoyed some of the activities – particularly the performer and throwing classmates in the air on blankets.

And, most importantly, they made sure all the freshmen knew the school cheer and were ready for the pep rally.

“No one booed,” said Greene.