No welcoming events for new students to DHS
Students encounter many obstacles when moving to a new high school. At DHS, there are currently no welcoming programs to help ease this transition for students new to Davis.
On the first day of school, new students are faced with finding their classes and meeting new friends all on their own.
“The first day was kinda iffy … you just have to get used to the system and adjust yourself to it,” junior Gwen Brinsmead, 16, said about being a new student in Davis.
Another new student also had a less than welcoming first day. According to sophomore Ilana Creinin, she didn’t know her way around the school, got lost on her way to first period, and had to walk in late. She thought meeting with a group of people to help her and other new students out would have been nice.
“You know no one,” Creinin said. “You just have to talk to someone and it’s like, by the way I’m new.”
DHS head counselor Courtenay Tessler said that new students are very much on their own and that there are no programs offered to make them feel welcomed. It is difficult for new students to feel like they belong, Tessler said. Often students are with the same kids from elementary school through high school, so new students feel they can’t step in to existing groups and make friends.
However, she does believe that Friendship Day and student involvement in clubs is a way to reach out to new students. According to Tessler, new students do come to the counseling office surprised because the school is different from where they came from.
Sophomore Emily Kappes has lived in Davis since the age of two. She said there was no way to tell if a student were new, but that she would talk to them if she knew.
“It’s probably harder to move to a new high school. Everybody already has their own group of friends. So for kids that are lost or new, it’s really hard.”
Both Creinin and Brinsmead would have attended welcoming events if they had been offered and Kappes said she would have supported an event to introduce new people to DHS.
“In the past we had things … But of recent times I can’t think of anybody who took something on,” Tessler said.
Sophomore Natalie Williams was a new student at Harper Junior High last year and felt very welcomed. “I think it would’ve been harder to move to the high school. It’s bigger, there are more people, and it’s less connected.”
“It’s a big school…I have to initiate conversations. Not everyone knows I’m new,” Brinsmead said.
The size of DHS is a reason why students have a hard time moving to a new high school. According to Creinin, unless there are “get-to-know-you” days in classes early in the year, it is hard to recognize a new student.
“Unless there’s a big group setting, no one seeks you out,” Creinin said.
