Tonight, March 7, FHC will host its annual Incoming Freshman Information Night.
Every year for around 15 years, the eighth graders have been coming to the high school to look around the building and decide what classes they want to take. They can meet some of the staff and other students and have conversations with some of the teachers to learn about the classes, the teams, and the clubs. One of the people who works on hosting the Incoming Freshman Information Night is counselor Sarah Van’t Hof.
“FHC hosts the Incoming Freshman Information Night to introduce families to the high school curriculum, culture, and expectations,” Van’t Hof said. “It allows families and students to see the space, meet the people, and ask pertinent questions.”
One of the best things about the Incoming Freshman Information Night is that it corresponds well with the middle schoolers’ scheduling showcase. Before having to fill their scheduling forms out, they can come to the high school and try to figure out what classes they’d like to put on the form. They can even talk to some of the teachers to figure things out about classes to see if they’d find any interest in the classes.
“The Incoming Freshman Information Night at FHC corresponds well to the course request timeline of eighth graders,” Van’t Hof said. “Eighth graders are introduced to high school graduation requirements on the morning of March 6 at CMS during their 8th-grade scheduling showcase. On the night of March 7, the families of students receive complimentary information. After these two events, 8th graders finalize their course requests for their 9th-grade year at CHS. Having this series of events in sequence has been helpful to students and their families and ensures all are on the same page.”
Another thing the incoming freshmen get to hear about at the Incoming Freshman Information Night is the sports and clubs to see if they’d like to do any of those. One of the teams that are going to Incoming Freshman Information Night is the FHC girl’s swim team. One of the newly appointed swim team captains who is a part of the freshmen orientation is junior Nora Magers. She has a hope that the swim team being at the freshmen night will bring some students who are interested in joining the team.
“We’re hoping that [the team] being there can get some more interest in the team,” Nora said. “The swim team is kind of low in numbers, so we’re trying to get more freshmen to come in to improve a little bit.”
When Nora first joined the swim team her freshman year, it was a little bit intimidating for her. It was a whole new school, a new team, and mostly new people. The swim team wants to make sure that none of the new freshmen feel that way, so they’re trying to be as welcoming as possible.
“[To welcome the freshmen,] we’re going to try to answer any questions possible,” Nora said. “We want to make it a super welcoming environment so they feel comfortable and so that they might want to join the team.”
Last year, when freshman Cora Beels was at the Incoming Freshman Information Night, she was a little bit intimidated coming to the new school. However, when she went to freshmen night and got to talk to the other students and some of the staff, she started feeling a little better about it because she got to learn about classes and teams.
“[The Incoming Freshman Information Night] helped me kind of get used to the environment,” Cora said. “It made the transition from the middle school to the high school a little easier for me.”
She was feeling a little apprehensive about going to the high school and wasn’t sure what classes she wanted to take. Luckily, the Incoming Freshman Information Night helped her figure out some of the classes she wanted to take. Another thing about the freshmen night that helped her feel a little more relaxed was that she could look around the building to see where classes were so she knew she wouldn’t get lost.
“I got to see what classes seemed the most interesting to me,” Cora said. “I also got to ask around to see if any of the high schoolers recommended any classes.”
The biggest hope with the Incoming Freshman Information Night is that the incoming students will feel a positive impact by visiting the high school. The staff hopes that they’ll find some interest in some of the classes and that they’ll sort of get used to the building and where the classes are.
“Students are impacted through being able to envision themselves in the high school setting during their visit,” Van’t Hof said. “It is a nice prerequisite to the orientation received in the spring or summer.”
