Each year, FHC holds the famous Connect Day that allows upperclassmen to lead the incoming freshman around the school. This event has been held for well over ten years and each year, it brings a new excitement to the halls not only because it allows the eighth graders to have a smoother transition into high school, but it allows the students already in high school to get a feel for the incoming students.

Allowing the upperclassmen to be student ambassadors and show the students around is highly beneficial because it presents the opportunity for new friendships and also gives the eighth graders someone to look up to when the new school year starts in the fall. The application process to become a connect captain is not very extensive, yet the qualities that the decision is based off of are crucial.

“Students give evidence to their interest and preparedness in being a student ambassador,” said Sarah Van’t Hof, Guidance Counselor and the director of the Connect Program. “They are then chosen based on the strength of their application, authentic passion for helping others, and teacher recommendation.”

Not only are the incoming students able to bond with high school students; they also are able hear from a panel of teachers and have the opportunity to ask them questions.  Teachers are decided on based on their prep hours and their availability and have not yet been announced.

“Students rotate from team building activities, meeting with teachers, touring the building, getting advice from current students, and watching the senior video,” Van’t Hof said.

Van’t Hof continued to explain that Connect Day leaders are given a basic structure of activities, but are able to determine the specifics of which activity to do.

Involved in Connect are the high school counselors, teachers who volunteer their time with the panel activity, counseling office secretaries, English teacher Kenneth George, and the lunch staff, who prepares the meals for an extra three-hundred middle schoolers.

Continuing this tradition is important to all the staff at FHC because it welcomes in the middle schoolers and allows them to be more relaxed on their first day of high school. It is also a way for all the grades to bond together and create a more equal environment.

“It builds a peer-to-peer community” Van’t Hof said. “The high school students are seen as way cooler than the adults, but that’s not a bad thing.”