By Jerome Redmann
Staff Writer
New students coming into Mira Costa as freshmen usually have a hard time adjusting to the new school environment. The jump from middle school or a K-8 school into high school is difficult and Link Crew is Mira Costa’s way of helping new students ease into a new school year in a new environment.
Link Crew is a program made up of Junior and Senior high school student volunteers who try to make a freshmen experience at Mira Costa more enjoyable. The students who take part are to act as role models for incoming students and to be people that the new students can turn to for advice but it seems a main goal the school has in mind for Link Crew is increasing school spirit in the addition to the student body.
The main event that Link Crew is known for is their orientation day in the end of the summer before school starts that is supposed to familiarize new students with the school and the other students that will be attending Mira Costa. This event with all of its cheers is more like a school pep rally than an orientation.
Although this event is intended to familiarize students with Mira Costa it takes up long hours of a summer day that most students would rather not be spending at school due to the fact school has not started yet. After the hassle of organizing different groups they each take their own separate tour of the school campus and have a time for activities for the students to learn about the other people in their group.
A simple tour of the school would suffice. It is important for new students to know the layout of their new school before the first day so that it is not complete chaos but the entire day for Link Crew to help students “familiarize” themselves with the other students is simply unnecessary because students throughout the student body for the most part already know one another and those who are new to the student body are easily acquainted.
Incoming students are not motivated by Link Crew, the only beneficial thing that Link Crew does for new students is gives them a tour of the Mira Costa campus before the start of a new school year.
Link Crew strives to portray an unreal image of school spirit hoping to increase school spirit in incoming freshmen students. This golden school spirit may be seen in movies and fiction, but in reality a perfect school spirit throughout all of the student body is an unreachable goal.
It is understood that our school would try to increase school spirit in the student body, but Link Crew is an attempt to increase school spirit, not just a program to help ease new students into the school for their freshmen year and this multitasking is what causes Link Crew to be unsuccessful.
As hard as the school may try students opinions of their school and their spirit will remain their own and will not be deterred by programs such as Link Crew. Even students in the program itself have their own opinions of school and their own spirit it can not be changed by the school’s attempts to increase the school spirit of the student body.
Link Crew’s goals are stated to be helping incoming freshmen but adjustment in the freshmen year is always difficult, with or without Link Crew attempting to cheer up the new addition to the student body.
An attempt to increase school spirit in the incoming freshmen class is not needed and does not alter the views of the new students. A tour of the school may be needed for certain students who have never learned the layout of the campus before but the entire program of Link Crew is unnecessary and the school would succeed more by using its resources elsewhere.
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