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Everyone has been through the first day of school, the fear of being in a new school where you don't know anyone, but imagine going through this when you've never even studied at a school in the United States and don't know how it works? Thinking about how scary it can be for new students, MHS created two programs to help students adapt and make new friends.
One of them is the mentoring program that takes place during the summer, it is focused on students who come from another country and are going to a high school in the United States for the first time, where the student will have the opportunity to take a tour of the school, meet their future teachers and understand how the school works. “The student mentor will attend new student orientation in August for one day only. They will help the student prepare for the first day of school.” explains Mrs. Correia, the person responsible for the program.
The second program is Student Buddies, in which the mentor will be chosen to accompany a student for a day, the mentor is chosen based on which language the student speaks, to make communication easier and the first day of class to be less scary. “Student friends will help students on the first day of school and take the student to all classes. Student Buddies will have lunch with the student and will become their first friend at school” says Mrs Correia “In the past we have had the case where a new student did not know that she could join another queue at lunch time so she ate the same thing for months For fear of getting into another queue or question, there have also been cases of new students spending the first day of class without eating because they didn't know how lunch worked. That's why we give a pass so the mentor can be late for their classes and so they can spend lunch with their student and make sure they can get lunch.”
The mentors are also the buddies. The two programs are related so the mentor who helps during the summer can also be Student Buddies during the school year and end up being selected once or twice a year to help a new student. “This program is beneficial because it gives the students a chance to help someone else, make more connections with different people and they can include that in their resume for college applications.” Mrs. Correia highlights the benefits of being a mentor and helping in the community, which can also help with your college application.
This is a very interesting program both as a chance for a new student to feel comfortable at their new school, and an opportunity for a mentor to represent our school and welcome a student and maybe even make a new friend. And anyone interested in participating should just contact Mrs. Correia.
