During the 2011-2012 school year, North Arlington High School adapted a new program to assist the ninth graders in adjusting to their first year of high school. This program is known as the Mentor Program. It consists of twelve groups of freshmen led by one teacher mentor and two carefully selected student mentors. These groups meet very often throughout the year to assure the freshmen are adapting to high school life well and know that they have someone to turn to if needed during the school day.
On March 29th, the teacher and student mentors put together a wonderful half-day program called Mentor Day. The program started 6th period when the entire freshmen class ate lunch together in the cafeteria while the teacher and student mentors ate together in the media center to prepare for the afternoon of fun they had set out for the freshmen groups.
For the rest of the day, six groups of freshmen and their mentors were in the gym doing physical activities and the other six groups were in the media center. The groups in the gym participated in team building activities such as trying to create a device to drop and egg into so that it wouldn’t break. In the media center, each group used the computer and other utensils to create puzzle pieces
that would eventually be pieced together as a “serenity quilt.” The end result was a large poster based on the serenity statement.
The day was filled with fun and all of the ninth graders truly enjoyed their day. At the end of the day Mrs. Rosolen, supervisor of the Business department and Technology teacher, created an Animoto video consisting of pictures taken throughout the day. The last activity of the afternoon was assembling in the cafeteria to watch the video and reflect upon the entire experience. Mrs. Bratowitz said, “I was moved by the enthusiasm and active participation of the entire freshmen class.” It seems that all participants enjoyed this first Mentor Day at North Arlington High School. Surely, this event will repeat itself for many years.