Now that we have reached the halfway point of the year, and going into a new semester, this is the time of year when another round of new students join us! In fact after winter break, we have had a total of 7 new high school students, with more to come. Last week I interviewed Ms. Ely, who is in charge of ASM’s Student Ambassadors program, on how it has been organising these new arrivals. Ms. Ely said that we have definitely had to think “outside of the box” this year, with new students coming during online school. She said that all the Ambassadors “worked together in grade level teams” in meetings throughout November and December in order to create two plans, one in person and one online, for “midyear arrivals”. These included an online option and an in school option, which by now all students have been able to go through with (as of Monday the 25th of January). However, before new students arrived at ASM, this year a new idea has been implemented, the “Pen Pal Program”! It is one of the ways the Ambassadors have tried to give new students “familiar faces” of people they have already at least said “Hi” to when they arrive here! Individual Ambassadors often volunteer to reach out to new students and from then on help answer questions and get to know them.
On Friday the 15th of January, 9th and 10th graders got to unexpectedly go to school for a day! Ms. Ely said that “within 30 minutes of [her] being notified, Student Ambassadors were emailed” and started reaching out to their new peers on where to meet and how the next day was going to go. I interviewed two Ambassadors who had new students to show around that day on how it went and what they had to do. An ambassador in 9th grade said that they “toured them around and showed them their classrooms”. She also said that the 9th grade Ambassador team had already held a zoom meeting with the new students in their grade to answer any questions on online school prior to that. Another 10th grade Student Ambassador, who I interviewed, said that on that Friday, he was able to introduce the new student he was showing around to “the teacher that they had for the day, then [he] was able to introduce them to [his] friends and socialise.”
As far as how the new students are doing and how well this all worked out, he has also said something that is true, which is that the students have had online school at their old schools, so at least that is something they already come with experience of. Nevertheless, the 9th grade Ambassador also thinks that “It’s harder to adapt online because you can’t really meet people…” But they both agree that the new students seem to be doing well and that all the Student Ambassadors are trying their best to help them out, in any way possible.
In the end, Ms. Ely encourages all students “to take a moment and think about how it might feel to be a new student in general, and then how it must feel to be a new student during a global pandemic”. We are all “in a similar boat- possibly stuck at home, feeling lonely and isolated, many of you only seeing friends on a screen. New students likely have a very different ‘being new’ experience this year if starting online- to break into friendship circles and try to connect through a screen rather than in person... reach out. Say hello if you see them in person. Send them a quick email to just say hi, introduce yourself, and ask how they are doing.” It’s also important to “continue reaching out” guys! It can’t hurt to be kind and hopefully soon we’ll all be back on campus with our new classmates to meet and get to know even more!
Julia Andrade Rozario Da Silva
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