By: Rebecca Tokarz
MONROE A group of about 20 wide-eyed and eager preteens walked down a hallway at Applegarth Middle School and looked to the left and right as one of their peers moved them into the school’s gymnasium and through a small doorway into the locker room.
"This is the girls locker room and these are the showers. You don’t need to worry about these showers or showering here because you won’t have enough time to do that after gym," eighth-grader Erika Stamdoupoulos said before moving the group back through the gymnasium to continue the tour.
The tour was all part of an orientation that the incoming seventh-grade class took part in, serving as a way to transition the students into the middle school atmosphere and help them learn a bit about their new environment at Applegarth before the school year officially kicks off Wednesday.
Additionally, the orientation sessions gave the incoming seventh-grade class, which incorporates students from Woodland and Brookside schools, the chance to see the middle school. The group also became acquainted with Principal Jeff Gorman and new Assistant Principal Cheri Chanley, who recently joined the district after Jeannette Baubles resigned earlier this summer.
"This is your home for the next two years. I hope we will all come together as a community and this is where new friends will be made," Mr. Gorman said Wednesday morning. "There are a lot of differences between elementary school and middle school and middle school and high school. A lot of what will go on will be different from what happens at Woodland and Brookside."
For the better part of two hours, a group of about 75 of the more than 200 incoming middle-schoolers participated in a number of activities to help acclimate them to the building they will call home for the next two years. Other sessions were held Tuesday and Thursday.
The sessions were organized mostly by the school’s Student Council, with members each walking a group of students through the building. Several teachers were on hand to talk to the students about what to expect from classes and the school supplies that will be needed.
Students played ice-breaking games, and Student Council members took them to see the nurse’s office, the gym and even the industrial arts classroom. Students met up with some of the seventh-grade teachers while they prepped their classrooms, talked about the alcohol and drug prevention programs at the school and were given a rundown of the after-school activities.
The orientation also gave special attention to the daunting task of opening a locker for the first time. There were about 10 lockers in one hallway that had locker combinations above them, and students were assigned the task of trying to unlock them.
Almost every middle-schooler interviewed said the most stressful, yet best part about coming to Applegarth, is the opportunity to have a locker.
"I’m nervous about the lockers," former Brookside student Alexis Maguire said, after several unsuccessful attempts.
Former Brookside classmate Brandon Godfrey said he loved the idea of having a locker to himself.
"I like the lockers, we didn’t have them at the other school," he said, adding that being able to open a locker has him a bit on edge.
Teachers patrolling the halls during the locker session reminded students not to feel pressured if they could not unlock their locker right away because there would be plenty of people around to help out during the first weeks of school.
Erika, who also serves as the Student Council vice president, advised incoming students to latch onto someone the first day of school who knows how to get a locker open and have them help out.
As if opening a locker weren’t tough enough, new seventh-graders also have to find a way to make new friends and find their way around a new environment.
"I’m worried about changing classes and getting there in three minutes," former Brookside student Dina Mangarella said. "I’m looking to meet new friends, and I’m going to join softball."
Dina said the orientation helped her get used to her new school and she is glad that they had the chance to learn how to unlock a locker, even if she couldn’t get it to work.
For Alexis, orientation was a chance to learn about the after-school clubs and latest sporting teams, including the newly approved boys and girls soccer programs and the boys baseball team. Knowing there are activities and school-wide events to attend will make the transition easier.
"I’m looking forward to the dances. It’s going to be cool to be in a new school and have lockers. We were there at our old school for five years," she said.
Megan Denehy from Woodland School said she welcomes the idea of coming back to school even though it is a new building because it will give her a break from a summer that seemed to drag.
Megan also said she learned how to open a locker, which will be helpful when she arrives at the school next week.
