Link Crew Eases the Transition to High School Remember your first year of high school? The summer before your freshman year you were filled with excitement. You've finally arrived! But the reality of that "arrival" may have eventually been coupled with fear and anxiety as you came to terms with what it meant to be an "underclassman." When ESHS students had the opportunity to reflect on their freshman year experience, their responses indicated a clear need for a smoother transition from middle to high school. Welcome Link Crew-- funded by your gifts to the El Segundo Educational Foundation! Co-Principal Linal Harada brought the Link Crew program to El Segundo High School in order to create a comfortable bridge for incoming freshman, free from the intimidation that often accompanies the first year of high school. Link Crew is a two-day orientation program that welcomes students to high school and takes them through a series of small and large group activities designed to teach valuable lessons necessary for freshman success. The program helps freshman get to know their peers as well as some of the 70 upperclassmen selected as Link Crew leaders. Link Crew not only establishes a positive environment for first-year students as they enter high school but also provides an excellent leadership opportunity for the juniors and seniors who apply for a limited number of leader positions. The first year of the program there were twice as many applicants as there were positions. This year there were 300 applicants for 70 positions, more than four times the number of spots! "It's a big time commitment for them, but serving in this way sets them apart when they go to college. It stands out on their application. It's also aligned with our motto: Enter to Learn, Go Forth for Service. I'm proud that we have so many interested leaders willing to serve in this way," shares Harada. During Orientation, the leaders share stories from their high school experience of what worked and what didn't. They share information about the resources available to students as well as offering helpful advice like tips on decision making, how to handle set-backs, asking for help, staying connected, and avoiding cliques. They also provide a campus tour, teach them how to open their locker, and supply a list of the top ten things every freshman should know from how to get involved on campus to strategies for academic and social success. Once school starts, Link Crew leaders conduct an academic follow-up in freshman classrooms and a monthly social follow-up through the remainder of the school year. Harada deems the program a success. "At the end of the first year we saw fewer discipline problems and an increase in attendance. It's phenomenal! This class also exhibited more confidence at school-wide activities during the year. We recently received our STAR scores, which showed a significant jump in the API score from 821 in 2007 to 839 in 2008. (The goal is to achieve 800 or higher). Segmenting out the freshman scores, English proficiency increased 3% from 2007 to 2008 and Math proficiency jumped an amazing 13%, indicating that our first Link Crew class had a successful freshman year," says Harada. Foundation funding provides Link Crew T-shirts for the leaders and staff to wear during the program and on the first day of school so that they are easy to spot if a freshman needs to ask a question. The Foundation also funds a 3-day intense out-of-town training program for the two Link Crew Coordinators. "We are really grateful for the funding. Without that support, we wouldn't be able to have the program," says Harada. Harada coordinated the program last year and now oversees English teachers Pam Wilson and Matt Wheeler who agreed to coordinate it this year. For additional information about the nationwide organization that created Link Crew, go to:  www.boomerangproject.com.